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john-thomas richards wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:20080314175634.GA26592@jrichards.org" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 01:27:09PM -0400, Casey DuBois wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Am I correct in assuming that MOST of these virus' would not affect Linux systems?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
How could they? In order to do something bad, a virus must be
executable. In order to be executable a virus must be copied to the
Linux box and made executable (chmod) and then *executed*. Connecting
a device to a Linux box is not going to do this, is it? I do not know
of a means to do this automatically. Then again, I do not often ponder
virus creation, either.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<rant><br>
What you say is true. However, I *do* ponder virus creation. Paranoid,
maybe, but I figure the best defense is a good offense. At this point
my main concerns with Linux distros are twofold:<br>
<br>
1) Trojan Horse programs that a user might be fooled into executing.<br>
2) Files that other programs may use, not realizing that those files
are, in fact, telling the program to do undesirable things.<br>
<br>
The way Linux is designed I think that #2 is clearly the more present
danger for any Linux distro. Consider what Steve Romanow wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">It would seem that with wine (or cedega, or crossover, all wine-alikes)
installed, you may have more exposure than you think.</pre>
</blockquote>
Tricking wine into running a Windows virus is a perfect example of how
Linux could be compromised. Other, more likely ones, include exploits
in such universal programs as Firefox and Thunderbird. (Anyone recall
any of the warnings regarding GreaseMonkey scripts for Firefox? I think
it's still an issue.) Or macro viruses. Is there any reason why some
hacker couldn't write a macro virus for OpenOffice which would
compromise Linux? Granted, something like that would probably have to
target Linux specifically, but my point is that we are not
invulnerable. This is especially true of our internet connections,
where we are essentially using the same protocols as Windows and every
other operating system. My router received over 100 Ping of Death
attacks in the first three weeks of February alone. I don't know about
you, but if an attack were to lock up my Ethernet card, I wouldn't be
much comforted telling myself, "Hey, at least my OS is still running."<br>
<br>
And don't even get me started on password security...<br>
</rant><br>
<br>
--jd<br>
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