Anti-Virus Software ?

[Trevor Smith]

On October 5, 2004 1:57 pm, Alexander Dalloz wrote:

> You could try to explain them, that Linux has a very different "design"
> and a working user rights management. Of course there are too enough
> people using Linux (mainly unexperienced? certainly untrained) and
> working much too much as root. Well, on the one side you can't

This will likely be the larger problem in the future as more people become 
linux users: not that virus writers will target us more, but that many 
(most?) of the new linux users will be as uneducated as they are now, while 
they're using Windows.

People will set up their systems to always run as root and they'll gravitate 
toward programs (because of the flash they provide) that allow integration of 
apps (read: insecurity), etc.

In other words, at least part of the "security" of the linux community now is 
that linux users, in general, take more time to read and understand their 
systems, and proper security for those systems. The majority of windows users 
buy their computer, turn it on and say, "how do I download music?" and never 
look at anything else.

When and if they migrate to linux, and when and if the big box stores start 
packaging linux, it will be (almost) as insecurely installed, configured and 
used as Windows is today, I predict.

> place. A different point is that nobody than Microsoft can fix bugs i.e.
> in the Internet Explorer or bad default settings with Outlook / Outlook

This is true and may protect the linux community from ever sinking as far into 
an insecurity hell as Microsoft has.

> Again: viruses are a result of bad OS structures since early DOS (how
> much viruses do you know for BSDs, Solaris or other UNIXes?) and much
> laziness and stupidity on the users side.

Unfortunately, you are completely right.

-- 
Trevor Smith // trevor at haligonian.com