Securty concers of GNU/Linux

Recent article somewhere that many desktop GNU/Linux users easily give out root passwords may be compromising their security easily let me into a great scrutiny about at what places on the net i give out password.

Well at most of packages installation i don't even think twice that the possible package may be a malicious code. Well most of us should not. Why? GNU users and coders are mostly doing the work for the good of community so malicious software in free* word is unheard (though it mayn't be ruled out completely. The variety in distros and the users preference also helps. The malicious code for one system may fail at simply the dependencies in the other GNU/Linux system. The clear definition of file permissions makes the system secure. What you may find at the best is the loss of you home data. Hope you have not opened your system too much for the attackers.