Re: Viruses - why worry? ;-)

[Ajit Warrier <unixajit yahoo com>]

--- Mark Knecht <mknecht controlnet com> wrote:
> Hi,
>    If this is viewed as off-topic, please let me
> know. I think it's on-topic
> as it certainly includes how I currently set up my
> machines, and user level
> virus protection doesn't seem to get much attention
> in the Linux world. TIA.
> 
>    OK, so I've finally managed to go 100% Linux
> based for email at least.
> (and _most_ normal browsing...) Outlook has been
> banished for over a month,
> Address books and all are converted to Evolution, so
> I think the transition
> is complete. However, I feel a bit exposed not
> having Norton Anti-Virus
> looking at everything coming in. Is this warranted,
> or is it just lingering
> Windows-paromania? ;-)
> 
>    In my setup, my home directory is on a partition
> that does not have
> execute permissions. However, I am linked to some
> partitions where I build
> source code from CVS, so I'm wondering/worrying
> about a couple of things"
> 
> 1) Do Linux Viruses even exist? Should I worry at
> all? This is a machine on
> a home studio network with other machines running
> Windows. Today I do not
> run Samba, but I do share audio data between
> machines via 1394 hard drives
> and less protected file systems.
> 
> 2) Since I have simlink's to directories that do
> have execute permissions,
> could a virus get over there and then get run
> automatically?
> 
> 3) How are Java applets handled WRT executable
> permissions? Java itself is
> elsewhere, but applets do show up browsing I think.
> Can those get run from a
> partition with no execution rights?

****************************
As far as Java Applets are concerned, IMHO, you need
not worry as they are executed in your browser's Java
Virtual Machine. Even signed applets (i,e, those
certified by Certification Authorities such as
Verisign) do not get access to your computer itself
without your explicitly giving permissions. So you are
ok there.
****************************

 
>    Are there other things I should consider? I'm
> very unclear what tools to
> install to do virus checking in Evolution and
> Mozilla/Lynx/Konqueror/etc.
> 
> thanks,
> Mark
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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