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It kinda depends on the context. If your machine isn’t on the internet and is dedicated to running like a large computational fluid dynamics simulation or something, security isn’t as much of an issue because there is no untrusted code running on the machine and there’s no way for hackers to access it. If your machine is Google’s public DNS server, security is critical.

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> If your machine isn’t on the internet

I don't think there are many such machines anymore. I am not seeing this as a common case at all. And in the present context of the Linux memory controller, they would never sacrifice general kernel security for performance.

Outside of your bubble they are pretty relevant. Hell, the biggest computers in the work generally run Linux without an internet connection.

And they are usually LAN connected thus Stuxnet-like worm infected laptop can still cause a damage. Security is always important.

Fun of you to assume my bubble. What are these biggest computers that you refer to that are not connected to the internet?

Scientific supercomputers used for academic and industry needs. Eg. weather prediction, CFD and FEM simulations, image processing, deep learning, and much more.

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