Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on February 26, 2007 11:42 PM
Misleading claims and false advertising by virus protection rackets to the contrary, you simply don't need antivirus products to keep your Linux box free of malware.
I'll agree with this statement and the general article with the "YET" caveat. Daily, I see new holes being discovered and opened in a wide variety of Linux system and desktop applications. Vulnerabilities are being discovered in everything including the kernel, Firefox, email applications, and more.
Contrary to the boasts of imperviousness, I am absolutely certain that when the Linux userbase reaches a point that makes the platform a target, we will see viruses/worms and spyware ruin our antivirus free lives. I'll go a step further and suggest that Flash or Javascript will likely be the first infection vector for spyware. I can already see a couple of likely routes but, I don't have the inclination or the desire to be labeled a pariah for writing a proof of concept. Woe be the name of the first DDoSed bastard that writes Linux malware. They'l skin him alive!
The file permission protection that we have relied on so far is bypassed with the mime type association execution that our desktops add to provide us convenience. When last did you chmod an javascript script or a<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.jar? Disabling Java and javascript and Flash is not really an option as Web 2.0 has rendered the web useless without these applications.
I don't want to have to use antivirus software. Ever. The performance hit alone makes it highly undesirable but, additional OS and desktop features always bring new attack vectors and the features in Linux desktops are growing everyday. It's only a matter of time/adoption before we are forced to implement some form of defensive software like antivirus/antispyware.
What I would like to see is an application level firewall. That is a ZoneAlarm-esque firewall that would trap/control applications trying to access the network. It's a nice capability that has been available to Windows users for years but, so far as I know, none exist for the Linux desktop. Mandriva have a firewall applet that seems close but, it's more like BlackIce, blocking external attacks with IPTables, than ZoneAlarm, blocking internal apps from accessing the network. A "firewall" such as this would go a long way toward preventing rootkits and other malware form invading the Linux desktop.
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Posted by: Anonymous Coward on February 26, 2007 11:42 PMI'll agree with this statement and the general article with the "YET" caveat. Daily, I see new holes being discovered and opened in a wide variety of Linux system and desktop applications. Vulnerabilities are being discovered in everything including the kernel, Firefox, email applications, and more.
Contrary to the boasts of imperviousness, I am absolutely certain that when the Linux userbase reaches a point that makes the platform a target, we will see viruses/worms and spyware ruin our antivirus free lives. I'll go a step further and suggest that Flash or Javascript will likely be the first infection vector for spyware. I can already see a couple of likely routes but, I don't have the inclination or the desire to be labeled a pariah for writing a proof of concept. Woe be the name of the first DDoSed bastard that writes Linux malware. They'l skin him alive!
The file permission protection that we have relied on so far is bypassed with the mime type association execution that our desktops add to provide us convenience. When last did you chmod an javascript script or a<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.jar? Disabling Java and javascript and Flash is not really an option as Web 2.0 has rendered the web useless without these applications.
I don't want to have to use antivirus software. Ever. The performance hit alone makes it highly undesirable but, additional OS and desktop features always bring new attack vectors and the features in Linux desktops are growing everyday. It's only a matter of time/adoption before we are forced to implement some form of defensive software like antivirus/antispyware.
What I would like to see is an application level firewall. That is a ZoneAlarm-esque firewall that would trap/control applications trying to access the network. It's a nice capability that has been available to Windows users for years but, so far as I know, none exist for the Linux desktop. Mandriva have a firewall applet that seems close but, it's more like BlackIce, blocking external attacks with IPTables, than ZoneAlarm, blocking internal apps from accessing the network. A "firewall" such as this would go a long way toward preventing rootkits and other malware form invading the Linux desktop.
Your favorite "Microsoft shill".
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