Quote Originally Posted by luxor
If I am using the Knoppix live cd am I generally safe from spyware, viruses, keyloggers, and so on?
There isn't likely to be any virus or spyware on the Live CD, and if there was it would have likely been discover since the CD was last released. You still have many of the normal security concerns though. Once booted it's Linux, and more and more hacks are showing up against Linux users. Be sure that you are behind a NAT router. And realize that If you do unsafe things that may install a key logger or other malware, it will be there at least until you reboot. And if you use the persistent features it may persist too. And also it's worth considering that Knoppix can be quite old, and the software on your CD or DVD may indeed contain software with many vulnerabilities that have been made public since it was released, so in some ways you are more vulnerable than if you were using all current software. And obviously your information is vulnerable to hardware key loggers, packet sniffing, man in the middle attacks, and many other security threats. So while it would be hard to infect something on a finalized CD or DVD, you would be foolish to think that you are safe from all attacks just because you use Knoppix.