How to secure Ubuntu for a non-technical user? (your mom)
- by Gil
My mother will be traveling for a while and I need to provide her with a secure laptop so she can work. A windows laptop is out of the question because:
she'll be logging into dodgy hotel wireless networks and conference networks
price of the windows license to install on a netbook
I've installed libreoffice, media players and skype on it. Also enabled SSH so I can intervene but I am worried that I might not be in a position to do so.
Possible threats:
web browsing
USB sticks
insecure networks prone to intrusions
malware
SSH/VNC vulnerabilites
Skype vulnerabilities
All the "securing Ubuntu" guides out there assume the user has a certain level of technical knowledge but this is not the case with moms in general. If a malware can gain even user level access it might compromise her files.