What are the more inherently secure distros and why?
I'm also interested in why the most secure distros aren't more popular for security reasons? Or maybe I'll find out that the distros I hear about all the time ARE the most inherently secure. I realize there are trade offs with everything. What are the downsides to security? I'm thinking it has to do with the difficultly and time consumption?
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Several decades ago, the various *nix operating systems had incredible differences between them, but over the years they all came closer and closer with each other. Thus, the average user will find that all of them are inherently secure.
Things diverge once you get into the details of your job, what you are trying to accomplish and how secure is secure for you. For example, I prefer NetBSD on small net devices, while I use FreeBSD for server requirements, but I switch to CentOS when it comes to web technologies.
In particular, I prefer CentOS for the web due to its ease of use, SELinux security by default, high stability and file/path compatibility. CentOS has remained true to *nix standards, so everything is nicely protected and independent in its own /home directory, with SELinux contexts on top.
Chances are, that if your content is too sensitive, you probably don't want to place it on the internet