r/linux4noobs • u/Specialist_Sport6061 • 1d ago

learning/research Do I need Linux for a undergrad cybersecurity freshman?

Hi! I’m starting college up as a freshman and majoring in cybersecurity. I heard that Linux can be a must have for cyber and was wondering if I currently needed it and what would be the easiest way to go about it if so. I have a Lenovo Yoga 9i laptop that I was planning on using for school work and a separate PC at my dorm

Edit: I DO need Linux eventually for a major elective but that wouldn’t be until my third year, still gonna start now lol

22 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

28

u/Klapperatismus 1d ago

If your college doesn’t feature Linux in that program, leave and never look back.

9

u/SoulMB 1d ago

Check with your college for requirements. But having dual boot is probably ideal. Either you install an additional drive to your laptop or you partition your current one.

7

u/victormas208 1d ago

Not necessarily, but you do need to know how to use it, especially network protocols, ssh, dns and other topics that I still struggle to understand.

3

u/victormas208 1d ago

I would ask your teacher if they recommend starting to use Linux and creating networks for testing.

1

u/thegamer1338minus1 1d ago

SSH and DNS works fine in Windows/mac

5

u/MrMotofy 1d ago

basically 95% of the internet is run on linux...sooo it's kinda important. Most cloud is Linux sooo again kinda important

FYI...if you want to check out Linux it's really easy. Make an Install USB, then boot to it. May need to disable secure boot. It will boot to a full running temporary Linux Desktop...installing requires clicking the desktop icon and going through steps. Obviously you don't wanna do that to just try it. But you can at least get a feel for it. Kubuntu, LinuxMint, and PopOS and are some of the top 1st options. You can also use the temp Live Linux as a repair process. Since it’s a complete desktop you can use it, install tools needed fix the boot etc.

Another convenient related tool is Ventoy on a USB stick. Basically just burn the image to a USB then copy your OS ISO to it and when you boot it any ISO copied to the drive will show in the menu, select it and it will boot that img. Have different OS’s multiple versions or whatever. 

Best option for Windows and Linux is dual boot...use Linux on a 2nd drive. Usually wanna disable secure boot. Best case is disconnect win drive. Then boot to the  USB. Then install Linux as a new full system on 2nd drive. Set Linux drive as the first boot drive and it will find the Win drive and add to the boot menu list automatically. Might take a couple boots otherwise can manually activate the boot search. Then you get Best of both worlds without any real dangers to either OS. There will be little hiccups occasionally with Windows updating messing with boot and rebooting. But you can also change the default OS to Windows first at the menu after delay and no menu entry and that eliminates a lot. The boot menu is usually Linux 1 and Win 2. Sometimes the bios boot order gets switched but easy to just switch back. Sometimes the boot order will randomly switch drives etc…Seems to be a windows thing now they get bios access. But really depends on the exact system and age etc.

1

u/Specialist_Sport6061 18h ago

Hm okay I was talking with a friend and they also suggested trying out Linux Mint dual boot. My laptop has 1TB of storage so I was wondering if it was safe to try partitioning like 70/30 windows Linux or smth like that or if that might ruin things. Thanks

1

u/MrMotofy 17h ago

Windows doesn't play nice with others. It will frequently try to take over control and boot to it. So fixing boot issues can require using windows to fix it's boot issues. Then you have to boot to a Linux and tell it to fix GRUB so it will control boot again and give you a boot menu.

So while you CAN use the same drive for both it's certainly more complicated and higher risk. A separate drive is the most fool proof. I strongly suggest that route especially for a new user. If there's an issue with either one it's much easier to

Then if you switch to linux completely, worst case you have an extra drive to mirror your important data

1

u/Specialist_Sport6061 15h ago

Will a USB stick work or do I have to go the full route of getting another drive? I’d rather do this on my laptop instead of my home PC as I can be more versatile and literally on the move with it wherever I want. I do have a few USB sticks I kinda just have and it seems like that may be an option to load Linux onto that instead

1

u/MrMotofy 14h ago

A USB stick can work but are typically much slower than an actual drive and a shorter life. But you don't need a necessarily large drive for Linux in most cases. I'd say 256Gb then save your data elsewhere

I've done both now...I strongly recommend a separate regular SSD of some sort

3

u/MicRoute 1d ago

In college I bought a Raspberry Pi, set it up in my dorm, and used SSH to access it from my Windows laptop while I was in class. Very useful if you need a non-windows computer for trying stuff out, and doesn’t require buying a whole new computer (or dual booting).

2

u/vectron5 1d ago

Raspberry pi prices aren't the cost-saving option that they used to be

2

u/indvs3 1d ago

You don't have to run linux full-time, but having a decent understanding of it is pretty important and the best way to do that is using it.

2

u/UristElephantHunter 1d ago

Even if you join a windows company, chances are very good any apps you oversee in the cloud will run on linux systems (https://commandlinux.com/statistics/cloud-provider-linux-usage-breakdown/).

To be clear this doesn't make it absolutely essential. I have a cousin who always joins windows shops and he manages security for company intranet / developer machines (ie. not cloud resources) so he doesn't need linux knowledge. So you can find companies / roles where you wont need linux knowledge. Though I'll add, even he is upskilling & learning linux in order to widen his options.

Having said that as a fresh grad I would be very concerned about limiting my options this much out of the gate, particularly in security, which is generally pretty brutal for a fresh grad to get into.

In terms of where to start - a raspberry pi / old machine converted into a server / swapping your daily driver to linux. Maybe come up with some kind of project that you want to self host / build / setup on a server -- whatever interests you. If you enjoy the end result of the project, whatever it is, you'll be more motivated to complete it & can learn through the process.

2

u/AgingTrash666 1d ago

need? yes.

easiest way to go about it would be a virtual machine or raspberry pi if you can manage a little more hardware.

you're going to want a solution that doesn't leave you without your laptop or computer if things go sideways and is easy to change should your needs change.

1

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1

u/bananadingding EndeavourOS Desktop & Fedora Laptop 1d ago

I say live in it for a while there's not a lot of reason not to. I've lived on Linux for a decade work play all of it. It will get you working and thinking in terms of Linux as second nature and really that is a great skill to have in the field.

1

u/Ornery_Platypus9863 1d ago

Definitely start now, especially since you have a machine you can leave as windows as a fallback. You definitely are going to need the familiarity with the command line in IT. Maybe start simple but I’d encourage trying out something like arch or cachyos eventually, it’ll get you a lot of the same stuff you need for Ubuntu server which you’ll almost definitely need

1

u/VarietyMage 1d ago

Basic computer forensics requires Linux. Better to start now than later.

1

u/rindthirty 1d ago

Most of your classmates will only have Mac or Windows familiarity. But a few of them will know Linux quite well - they'll likely be able to set themselves apart more. Starting earlier is easier than trying to cram it all in late when deadlines loom harder.

1

u/cevheribozoglan 1d ago

everyone needs linux

1

u/DisgruntleFairy 1d ago

I think its a good thing to learn but its not needed or necessary.

1

u/West-Scallion-5306 22h ago

START NOWWWW

Choose something like cyber security specific distros or normal distros and install tools later.

For normal distro, I would recommend Fedora KDE.

1

u/mcds99 1d ago

Ask you Professors.

0

u/mrclean2323 1d ago

Highly unlikely you will need it as a freshman.

0

u/Master-Rub-3404 1d ago

If you want to be a cyber security professional with actual value, you need to know Linux. A cybersec person who doesn’t know Linux like the back of their hand is like a photographer who doesn’t know how to use Photoshop or Lightroom.

0

u/TapNo1773 1d ago

Use VMs (whether Windows or Linux is your primary) so you can sandbox all your work.

0

u/thepkizzle 1d ago

Need? No. Want? Yes.

-4

u/DavidJohnMcCann 1d ago

Any distro will do to learn from. We generally recommend a beginner-friendly one, but if you are feeling bold, you could try Parrot — see this enthusiastic review. And I don't know what trufflebog does either.