On Mon, 09 Sep 2013 12:19:11 +0000, Fattburger wrote: > On Sun, 08 Sep 2013 03:37:15 +0000, Dave Angel wrote: > >> 1) what OS are you running? Actually, we can be pretty sure you're >> running Windows, since any other common operating system would have >> already included Python. > > Plus I don't often run into Linux users who worry about viruses, unless > the braces-and-pimples crowd has expanded its horizons recently and > started creating malware that does anything in Linux.
Hello, the 1990s called and want their stereotypes back. Malware in 2013 is not about loser nerds erasing your hard drive for the lulz. It's a multi-million dollar a year business, mostly driven by spammers, but with small yet profitable niche markets for industrial espionage and blackmail ("we've encrypted your files -- pay us $100 and we'll send you the key"). Plus so-called law enforcement[1] uses it to break into people's computers, for keylogging, etc., and you better believe they have cracks targeted at Linux. Of course, Linux is a much harder target than the average unpatched Windows box, and there are probably easier ways to get access to your files if they really need to. But really, we've learned *nothing* from the viruses of the 1990s. Remember when we used to talk about how crazy it was to download code from untrusted sites on the Internet and execute it? We're still doing it, a hundred times a day. Every time you go on the Internet, you download other people's code and execute it. Javascript, Flash, HTML5, PDF are all either executable, or they include executable components. Now they're *supposed* to be sandboxed, but we've gone from "don't execute untrusted code" to "let's hope my browser doesn't have any bugs that the untrusted code might exploit". The people driving malware these days are not script-kiddies, but professionals, up to and including some of the smartest and most highly funded professionals in the world. Stuxnet anyone? [1] I say "so-called", because far too often the people who are supposed to be upholding the law are actually breaking the law with impunity. -- Steven -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list