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Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to TheProtector – Linux Bash script for the paranoid admin on a budget

Hi HN, I spent the past year building this in my spare time because I got tired of enterprise security tools that cost $50K/year and don't understand Linux. TheProtector is a comprehensive security monitoring tool that actually runs on the systems we use (Linux) instead of being a Windows-first afterthought. Built it entirely on a $500 laptop because I believe good security shouldn't require unlimited budgets. Features: - Real-time process, network, and file monitoring - YARA malware detection with custom rules - eBPF kernel monitoring (when available) - Behavioral baseline…

TheProtector is a Linux security monitoring tool built as a single Bash script for system administrators. It provides real-time monitoring of processes, networks, and files, includes YARA-based malware detection, eBPF… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

  1. 1

    Detect secrets in source code, public and private!

    2018 · gitguardian.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    My simple Swiss Army knife for http/https troubleshooting and profiling. - trimstray/htrace.sh

    2019 · github.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    Per-executable network bandwidth monitoring for Linux

    2022 · elesiuta.github.io · its alternatives →

  4. 4
    SpyBuster▲236

    Unmask a spy and save your data

    2022 · macpaw.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5
    Nixstats▲117

    A new powerful monitoring tool for your server and website.

    2017 · login.webpros.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    I noticed the growing security concerns around MCP (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43600192) and built an open source tool that can detect several patterns of tool poisoning attacks, exfiltration channels and cross-origin manipulations. MCP-Shield scans your installed servers (Cursor, Claude Desktop, etc.) and shows what each tool is trying to do at the instruction level, beyond just the API surface. It catches hidden instructions that try to read sensitive files, shadow other tools' behavior, or exfiltrate data. Example of what it detects: - Hidden instructions…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    I built an open-source malware detection daemon that monitors all running processes in real-time using ML + heuristics. No kernel modules or eBPF required. Key points: - Polls &#x2F;proc for new processes (works on any Linux kernel 2.6+) - Random Forest model trained on EMBER 2018 dataset (2.3M samples) - Heuristic rules for crypto miners, ransomware, rootkits - ~20MB RAM, <1% CPU, sub-millisecond scan latency - Pure C, zero runtime dependencies - Model embedded directly in binary (50KB) Why I built this: Existing solutions either require modern kernels (eBPF) or are heavy&#x2F;proprietary.…

    Nov 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    vet — A safer way to run remote scripts.

    2025 · getvet.sh · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    A fast way to scan your server for outdated software and potential exploits. - PatrolServer/bashscanner

    2015 · github.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    Interactive system monitoring for GNU/Linux distributions

    2021 · gitlab.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11
    Kryptor▲84

    A simple, modern, and secure encryption tool

    2021 · kryptor.co.uk · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    Hello HN! We’re excited to share PerfAgents, a synthetic monitoring tool built for startups and enterprises seeking robust and proactive monitoring across global regions. TL;DR: PerfAgents is a synthetic monitoring platform that uses your existing E2E automation scripts (Playwright, Puppeteer, Cypress, and Selenium) for web app monitoring, reducing setup time by 80%. No complex integrations, no vendor lock-in, and proactive alerts that let you catch bugs before users do. Problem We’re Solving: Ensuring application reliability across all regions is tough, especially when existing monitoring…

    2024 · perfagents.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    ProcInSh is a web-based process inspector for Linux. - akawashiro/procinsh

    15d ago · github.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    Browse web3 securely

    2022 · walletguard.app · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    Detect loops & arp attacks. analyze broadcast storms.

    2025 · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    This is a small PoC Python project for web server access logs analyzing to classify and dynamically block bad bots, such as L7 (application-level) DDoS bots, web scrappers and so on. We'll be happy to gather initial feedback on usability and features, especialy from people having good or bad experience wit bots. *Requirements* The analyzer relies on 3 Tempesta FW specific features which you still can get with other HTTP servers or accelerators: 1. JA5 client fingerprinting (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;tempesta-tech.com&#x2F;knowledge-base&#x2F;Traffic-Filtering-b...). This is a HTTP and TLS layers…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    Guardscript monitors every few minutes any changes made to your Javascript files and sends you a notification with the changes made. You can then detect any malicious modification by analyzing these results.

    2019 · guardscript.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Internet blocker for the Linux desktop. Contribute to aniketpanjwani/chomper development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2018 · github.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    bVisor is an SDK and runtime for safely executing bash commands directly on your host machine. We built it on the belief that "sandbox" doesn't need to mean shipping off to remote sandbox products, or spinning up local VMs &#x2F; containers. Sometimes, you just want to run that bash command locally. bVisor boots a sandbox from user-space without special permissions, powered by seccomp user notifier. This allows us to intercept syscalls from guest processes and selectively virtualize them to block privilege escalation, isolate process visibility, and keep filesystem changes isolated per…

    Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    World's Largest Exploit Database

    2023 · exploit.observer · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    I built a GitHub app that detects it in pull requests, notifies or blocks them. Alongside it, I published a Semgrep ruleset for any stage of the CI&#x2F;CD. I started this after getting frustrated by all the FUD around malicious code - lots of noise, little effort to solve it. Having said that, it's still a major attack vector - a stored RCE, with the codebase itself as the sink. Feedback is appreciated. The app, PRevent - https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;apiiro&#x2F;PRevent The ruleset: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;apiiro&#x2F;malicious-code-ruleset The research:…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22ST

    Get a baited crypto wallet so you know if someones broken into your computer or server.

    2019 · serverthiefbait.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Linux Security Monitoring Daemon

    May 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24RA

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →