It’s quite possible these days, actually. But never change a running system!

I see. Is self-hosting an option for you?

Why did you choose that provider?

In my tests over the years, it has always been annoyingly slow with random GUI issues, GnuPG crashed a lot, and mail server communication left room for improvement. It might have a sufficient number of features, that’s granted, but honestly, after my experiences with it, I’d usually recommend Sylpheed instead (if free software is mandatory).

If only Thunderbird was better.

There is malware attacking servers running Linux but I doubt that many of those would work on desktop Linux.

Linux kernel malware works just well on desktop Linux kernels, and that’s the majority of Linux malware.

The comments you posted here seem more like paranoia to me

Honestly, when it comes to computer security, “paranoia” is a harsh word for being aware of possible risks. (It’s been 12 years “since Snowden”, and people have already forgot, it seems.) Even Windows desktops are not under constant attack, but still there are reasons to maybe take security measurements on them before you can call them “secure”. And that applies just as well to Linux.

The precise amount of hardware support of an operating system largely depends on your hardware. For example, iOS runs on iPhones while Linux does not. Does iOS have greater hardware support now?

Frankly, there is not one piece of hardware in my household that wouldn’t work with OpenBSD. I’m sure I could say the same about Linux. And you.

Exploits for Linux systems aren’t exactly sparse, actually.

So is this a thing in reality and how can I find out?

It is one of several things in reality. Linux malware, spreading through the (mostly) same paths as Windows malware does, has been real for quite some time now.

But that in itself doesn’t really threaten my (or OP’s dad’s) computer.

Linux malware threatens Linux computers. It might be important to keep that in mind if you use Linux.

Thanks for the link. But that’s not a vulnerability or malware.

The RingReaper malware is literally a malware, using known vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel…?!

Malware uses specific attack vectors and specific vulnerabilities.

The “specific vulnerabilities” are usually in the Linux kernel, quite present on every single Linux system. Please follow the link I posted above. This is not about Apache or any other arbitrary user-facing software.

Let me repeat my last paragraph, as you seem to have stopped reading after the first question mark:

But that’s not the point. There’s no specific “Linux server malware”. There’s Linux malware.

OpenBSD gets SMP improvements all the time, so yes, chances are that 7.8 will be even snappier. For banking, however, desktop smoothness would not be my primary concern.

Okay, let’s assume for fun that there’s highly developed Linux malware that exclusively infects servers and leaves desktops alone. What exactly is a server? Is it a server as soon as a web server service is running? A DNS service? An SMTP service? Some of these are also included with Linux desktops.

But that’s not the point. There’s no specific “Linux server malware”. There’s Linux malware. It targets the Linux kernel (current data point), not any web stuff.

https://linuxsecurity.com/features/ringreaper-linux-malware

And to this date Linux malware and viruses for the desktop are practically unheard of.

This is dangerously false.

edit: I’m sorry to see I have disturbed a few people here, downvoting the truth without a comment. Explains a lot of contemporary politics, I think.

OpenBSD. No Linux, but much more secure. And yes, there is quite some amount of Linux-specific malware around these days.

Neither should most contemporary Unices.

Both are lovely for similar reasons.

Still if Im going to give my time I will go copyleft.

I won’t contribute to GPL projects. Let’s meet in the middle.

I run this setup, mostly. For backups, I just run a BorgBackup cronjob over the Maildir and the configuration folders.

My mail client is mu4e. Advantages over a web-based mail client: I can safely encrypt my e-mail (web-based GnuPG has too many flaws) and all the e-mails are stored on my hard disk for searching and archiving.