Instead of running inside an OS, Type 1 hypervisors run directly on the “bare metal” of the hardware. If the host OS is ever compromised, then any VMs it hosts are also effectively compromised.īy contrast, Qubes uses a “Type 1” or “bare metal” hypervisor called Xen. However, the fact that Type 2 hypervisors run under the host OS means that they’re really only as secure as the host OS itself. (The hypervisor is the software, firmware, or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines.) These programs are popular because they’re designed primarily to be easy to use and run under popular OSes like Windows (which is called the host OS, since it “hosts” the VMs). These are known as “Type 2” or “hosted” hypervisors. You may have used or heard of VMs in relation to software like VirtualBox or VMware Workstation. 'Not all virtual machine software is equal when it comes to security. How does Qubes OS compare to running VMs in a conventional OS?

'Qubes takes an approach called security by compartmentalization, which allows you to compartmentalize the various parts of your digital life into securely isolated compartments called qubes'.

It also means that the source code is openly available so others can contribute to and audit it'. This means that everyone is free to use, copy, and change the software in any way. Qubes is free and open-source software (FOSS). Some examples of popular OSes are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Android, and iOS.

The OS is the software that runs all the other programs on a computer. 'Qubes OS is a security-oriented operating system (OS).

Best free virtual machine to run qubes