Security Software

[BoneCream]

So. Recently I had to re install Debian. I'm using Debian 12.
The reason for the re-installation was because I installed a program called rkhunter. It is a script used to find Rootkits, Hidden files, and Backdoors and any other thing that seems to be suspicious, and the reason I began to use rkhunter was because when I would glances into my terminal. I would notice every once in a while their would be a daemon or a process that would be using NEARLY %90 of my cpu, It would be causing my gnome to lag greatly, I'm a newbie but I'm not a complete newbie. Obviously that's why I use Linux instead of windows because I like ti check things out and see how things are really being operated behind the scenes. Back on topic. I used rkhunter because I was noticing suspicious activity. I began to have files pop up in my file cabinet with a lock symbol above them as if I installed them in my root directory for instance I installed android studio to try to mess with my phone to then gain root access because someone kept gaining access to my email. KEEP IN MIND I live in the country. Everyone in my small town uses the same exact internet provider if not most of us use the same exact one. It is home telecom. I began to think at one point the people who are providing our internet has a person hired who SPYS one everything we do because their also alot of occult activity in my area and they are OBSESSED with controlling people and what they believe.

SOOOOO. I was wondering.

Is there anybody out there who knows of any new free software I could learn how to use, in order to utilize my grandmother internet? so not only am i not being spied on, but her also not being spied on too? I've looked online. But I'm talking operating system security. My uncle hat used to live here also worked for the school district in the IT department and he has pretty much EVERY port closed on my grandmas router other than the normal ports used for internet access. AS IN. I would know if someone broke into our internet in a sloppy manor. Uness the fbi or cia is indeed peeping in on my internet activity SIMPLY because I use Linux and Not windows. which they ARE known to target people like us. They didn't make the show Mr.Robot on netflix for no reason...................

[pbear]

As an aside, the lock symbol doesn't always mean user-root owns the file. It also can mean the file is read-only, which various apps do for non-nefarious reasons. Next time, check with ls -la /path/to/folder.

[memilanuk]

Someone's tin foil hat is a little tight...

[Uptorn]

I would notice every once in a while their would be a daemon or a process that would be using NEARLY %90 of my cpu

There are benign things which can do this. Gnome desktop environment has a legitimate component which unfortunately bears a scary sounding name "tracker-miner" (which is a terrible choice in naming IMO) which has caught a few newbies thinking they've been compromised.

I am also aware that kworker threads tend to do this, esp on systems utilizing full disk encryption.

rkhunter, while a good program, is also known to report false positives. There is even a section in the rkhunter.conf file to whitelist such programs. Sometimes it is something as simple as a program using a larger memory segment than the expected default <something>MB of memory.

Knowing your system will better help you to sort false positives apart from legitimate compromises.

I have been using rkhunter and several other FOSS security programs for years now and the only things any of it discovered and isolated had been a few old .exe windows freeware installers that had been sitting around on my storage from before I migrated to Linux. (Which were also totally a non-threat on anything but a functional Windows environment).

I think it might also do you well to take up some reading on the cyber security threat landscape, to help you build a more realistic threat model. The adversaries most of us (as common internet users) face are largely just adtech networks trying to assault us with targeted advertising. Not exactly some Jason Bourne shenanigans.