This section provides a brief overview of system security and includes some principles for how to enhance security on Oracle Linux systems.

Oracle Linux is a secure enterprise-class OS that can provide the performance, data integrity, and the application uptime necessary for business-critical production environments.

Thousands of production systems at Oracle run Oracle Linux, and many internal developers use it as their development platform. Oracle Linux is at the heart of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and several Oracle engineered systems, including the Oracle Exadata Database Machine, Oracle Private Cloud Appliance, and Oracle Database Appliance. Oracle Linux is also used across Oracle cloud, whether it's infrastructure, database services, or other Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

Backed by Oracle Support, these mission-critical systems, and deployments depend fundamentally on the built-in security and reliability features of Oracle Linux.

Oracle has been a regular participant in the Linux community, contributing code enhancements for the mainline Linux kernel. Oracle also contributes to many open source initiatives, such as Oracle Cluster File System and the Btrfs file system. From a security perspective, having roots within open source is a significant advantage.

The Linux community, which includes many experienced developers and security experts, reviews posted Linux code extensively before it's tested and released. The open source Linux community has supplied many security improvements over time, including access control lists (ACLs), cryptographic libraries, and trusted utilities. Oracle builds on such tools to provide a solid and secure OS.

Oracle recommends that you follow some fundamental security principles when using Oracle Linux. These principles are guidelines that administrators can use to build security policies.