These niche Linux products have advantages that may make them a better choice than a standard distribution. First and foremost, a security-enhanced, or hardened, distribution lets you take a proactive security stance versus the reactive model of the mainstream vendors. Although the standard distributions have improved security, advances have come at a snail's pace, with vendors doing only enough to avoid appearing remiss. After all, reducing the default number of network services (the most common security "enhancement" of a mainstream distribution) is not a robust approach to security--it's common sense.

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