Yeah, the whole notion before the Unix and Linux flavor OS is safe from this criminals no longer holds, although it used to be an attack to take advantage and mine Monero, perhaps it is gradually shifting.
That's why I try to maintained this thread,
Alarming Unix attack is on the rise.
Well it kind of does, depending on how you take that advice. I've never heard any respectable person claim that Linux was impenetrable, but what I have heard, and surveyed is that Linux is used by a small amount of the population with Windows leading the market which means, if you want to infect as many computers as possible, your attention is likely going to set on Windows users. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't malicious code that runs on Linux, its just less common. Probably, severely less common (without looking up statistics). It also depends entirely on how the user is setup, are they operating from a root user etc.
My advice is usually based on how "paranoid" a user is. If you are very security conscious (for a better word) then assume that every device can be compromised, from all sorts of attacks. Buying used computers probably isn't recommended, and even choosing where you buy mining equipment is probably worth it. Assuring browser is secure, by preventing scripts from running, and probably by only visiting websites you know you can 100% trust.
Linux is more difficult to compromise, and there's various distributions which handle it better, and worse. By far, any operating system which uses isolation, or compartmentalization is best. Qubes OS, can isolate software into a container, you can virtually separate your network from within Qubes OS, and various other things. However, the compatibility of this is the issue, even down to the hardware level.
So, whatever platform you are using, your security practices shouldn't change much.
Absolutely, to the best of your ability avoid changing your mindset just because a system offers better protection. Anti virus, Linux, and various other protection against viruses, can actually we worse for some people due to the fact that they'll drop their guard, and let complacently creep in.
Obviously, no one is perfect, and I believe almost everyone has some sort of security flaw in their regime, since unfortunately if you were to take all the precautions in the world, you would be severely limited on what you could do on a computer.