To that end, I offer up five tips that will ensure that Ubuntu Linux desktop is safe and secure. These tips are all such that any level of end user can undertake them without having to take classes in PCs or Linux administration.

Use solid passwords

As of 2010, the most common passwords used are:

1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123

It should be obvious that anyone and everyone must avoid using the above passwords. What is not so obvious is how most users ignore the pleas of software manufacturers, administrators, and everyone in between to use secure, unique passwords. Even though the Linux operating system is a solid environment, you are not exempt from this. Because Linux is a multi-user OS every user should have a very unique password. These passwords should follow the standard requirements:

• Upper and lowercase letters.
• Include a number.
• Include special characters such as #,!,$.

Use more than one username

Linux is a mult-user OS. If you have more than one user on your system, make sure that each and every user has a log in. Unless dictated by need, do not have a general user account that everyone uses. If you use a single account, everyone will have access to each users’ data. To set up new user accounts click on System > Adminster > Users And Groups to take advantage of the user-friendly GUI tool.

Update your software

There is a reason updates occur. In many instances, those updates are often security driven. Because of this, you will not want to make a habit of ignoring updates. You will know, right away, when an update is available as it will appear in your notification area. When this happens, click on the icon, enter your sudo password, and allow the updates to complete.

Install a firewall

Just because you are using the Linux operating system, doesn’t mean you are immune to hacks and attacks. It’s always better to err on the side of safety by adding a firewall on top of your system. To do this, open the Ubuntu Software Center, search for “firewall” (no quotes), and install the firewall tool that best suits your needs (GUFW is a good choice).

Lock your screen/no auto login

This is something I always set. When your screensaver starts up, by default the behavior is to lock the screen. Do not disable this behavior as it opens up your desktop to nefarious behavior when you are away from your desktop. In the same vein, you should also not enable the auto login feature. Yes, it is quicker when starting up your machine and less of a hassle than having to enter a password – but auto-login is nothing more than inviting users other than you to get into your files and view files they shouldn’t view.

Add ‘em up

If you follow those simple tips your Ubuntu (or any Linux desktop) will be much safer than it would be if you ignored them. These tips can also, for the most part, apply to just about any operating system. The key is to use your computer intelligently to help avoid attacks of various types.

The second option is to configure Windows to perform the login automatically. The benefit here is that the desktop loads completely so that there is not a waiting period after coming back to the computer desk. The operating system may lock the computer eventually if it is configured this way, but there is a period where the computer is accessible by anyone.

Windows Auto Logon & Lock offers all the benefits of the second method without the security implications. The free software basically configures the Windows operating system to log in a user before locking the desktop.

The benefit of this option is that the desktop is fully loaded, but protected at the same time.

Benefits

• Faster boot time. The additional post-logon start up items are also started after Windows boots. Which means when you press the power button on your PC and come back after a few minutes, its COMPLETELY booted up. No need to wait for additional software to load after you logon.
• Automatically resume downloads etc. when your PC reboots due to a power failure or crash. On XP you could do this by installing the application as a system service. In Vista and 7, Session 0 Isolation makes using a system service a pain, not to mention it’s insecure. Just put your applications in the regular Windows Start Up folder and they will be launched after the auto logon.
• It password protects Safe Mode as well. Existing auto logon methods leave Safe Mode unprotected.
• It locks the desktop before Explorer is started. Other methods auto-lock using an autorun/start up entry which leave the PC logged on and unlocked until the autorun entries are executed (which can even take several minutes).

Windows Auto Login And Lock Configuration

• Run “Lock.exe” from the archive to test if the application runs without errors. If all is well your desktop should lock. Logon again and Windows Explorer should be open. You might want to create a System Restore Point before proceeding just to be safe.
• Copy the files “Lock.exe” and “LockCMD.exe” to your Windows directory. (Ex: C:\Windows)
• Run “lockcmd.reg” from the archive and click Yes in the dialog box. You must run this while logged on to the account which you want to enable auto logon for.
• Click Start and type “netplwiz.exe” (Without the quotes) and press Enter.
• Uncheck the box “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer” and click OK. Enter the Username and Password of the account you want to enable auto logon for.
• Reboot your PC to test it.

Windows Auto Login And Lock Download And Compatibility

The program has been tested by the developers on 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. The program is available for download at the developer website.

If, however, security is not an issue with a particular user, than auto login is a simple way to make Ubuntu even more user-friendly than it already is. And fortunately, auto login is simple to set up. In this tutorial you will learn how to set up auto login as well as tweak your log in screen.

The tool

The tool used to configure auto login is found in the Administration menu and is called “Login Window Preferences”. When you go to launch this tool you will be required to enter your sudo password. When the window launches you will see six tabs:

• General: General configuration.
• Local: Login theme, color, welcome message.
• Remote: Remote login.
• Accessibility: Enable more GTK+ modules to be available.
• Security: Auto login, timed login, security.
• Users: Exclude users from login.

Figure 1

The tab used to set up auto login is the Security tab. Click on that to see the settings available (see Figure 1 – Click to enlarge).

To enable auto login you simply have to follow these steps:

1. Click the check box for “Enable Automatic Login”.
2. Select the user who will be automatically logged in from the drop-down list.
3. Set the “pause before logging in time”.
4. Close the window.

It’s that simple. Now of course there is much more that can be done in this tab of the preferences window. So why not take advantage while you have it open?

If you want to be able to log on as the system administrator you can do so here. First you need to check the check box labeled “Allow local system administrator login”. There is one catch. Remember that Ubuntu does not have, by default, a root user password. Because of this, even if you have this feature enabled, the administrator will not be able to log in. In order for this to work you have to give the root user a password. Understand the root user was not given a password in Ubuntu for a reason…simplicity. But if you would prefer to have an administrative user (and bypass having to use sudo) you can give the root user a password by following these steps:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Issue the command sudo passwd root.
3. Enter your sudo password.
4. Enter a new password for the root user.
5. Enter the root password again for verification.

Now your local administrator can log in. A word of warning: I don’t recommend loggin in as root. There may be times when it seems necessary, but before you do exhaust other possibilities first. Bad things can happen when you log in as root.

Custom welcome message

When your login screen appears there is a welcome message next to the logo in the greeter. You can personalize this greeting in the Local tab of the preferences window. Click on this tab and look at the bottom of the window where you will see the “Welcome Message’ section. By default the message is simply “Welcome”. To change this click the check box for “Custom” and then enter the greeting you want to use. Once you are done click close.

Final thoughts

Enabling auto login, when used in trusted locations, can be a time saver as well as a way to make your Linux installation more user-friendly. For some users, having to log in to their computer is a real hassel. Help those users out by setting up auto login.

The LastPass team has been hard at work making their password management software compatible with additional browsers and devices. The first step is a set of bookmarklets that they have created. These bookmarklets can be used in browsers like Opera, Google Chrome, Safari and even the iPhone to make use of the stored passwords and form information of LastPass. All that needs to be done on the user’s part is to log into the LastPass website and drag the bookmarklets into the web browser.

Three bookmarklets are available: Login, Fill or Fill Form. Login will try to login the user into the website automatically that he is currently on. Fill will only fill in the information stored at LastPass while FillForm will fill out forms automatically. The website contains instructions for a few web browsers, make sure you read them thoroughly.

One could say that those bookmarklets could be a security risk. Imagine someone else accessing the computer where the bookmarklets are installed. That user could practically log into all websites that are stored at LastPass. The team has created a bookmarklet reset for exactly that purpose. This will reset the bookmarklets rendering all bookmarklets that have been created up to this point useless.