Re: [newbie] Re[2]: is an anti-virus mandatory ?
There are no GNU/Linux virii whatsoever. A few worms exist, but their impact has been minimal. There have been a number of competitions (with cash prizes) to write virii for GNU/Linux, but nobody has ever succeeded. Most of the stuff that exists in the press regarding virii in GNU/Linux is the result of ignorance or malice (e.g. from antivirus vendors trying to make money). The virus scanners that do exist for GNU/Linux are made to detect Windows virii. This can be placed on a GNU/Linux server to prevent Windows client machines from being infected. On Wed, 26 Dec 2001 10:51:06 +0800, Anuerin G. Diaz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: linux (kernel and supporting utilities) is a huge application and thus can be exploited by anybody patient, analytical and determined enough to cause misery on others. the only good point is that such persons will have to work harder to do damage in linux as exploitable flaws are found first by the contributing community before major damage is done. if ever there comes an exception and somebody creates a bug for linux, a patch could be made ASAP but the computers infected will already be hit. linux may attract more virus writers as it is becoming more popular. but that only proves that we should be forever vigilant whenever sensitive data is concerned. anyway you have better chances safeguarding your data in linux than in windows but that is my opinion alone. macro viruses wont be prevalent in linux until such a time when the developers of office-related applications start implementing support for self-executing macros. that goes to say that your data is safe as of this time. for how long is a question. ciao! [ © ª N ª ® i º JØË ]¹ wrote: Robin, Mandrake-group: Thank you for your comments. I do not know much about linux. I am a fisheries biologist and have been stuck to msoft for years. I have several gigabytes of compressed articles, data analyses, mathematical simulations, references, etc. on MSoft file formats. Bad. I am trying to, gradually, migrate to linux (I choose Mandrake out of several distributions I tested). The virus issue is of great concern to me. Profesionally, *I am* those files (years of work). I have read some viruses could attack linux systems and more are expected to come. I do not know well the internals of linux but, can you be sure of ... say ... a macro virus (such as those which destroy the MSWord .doc format+contents) is impossible to make for a linux system running ... say ... StarOffice ? Cheers, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Ø©Eªnº - þªT®iª - NØsT®ª] Wednesday, December 26, 2001, 2:20:11 [Islas Canarias, GMT]. robin [EMAIL PROTECTED] escribió [25/12/2001, 12:39]: r For a workstation you shouldn't need antivirus software - it's normally r only necessary for servers where people are uploading stuff like Word r documents (e.g. someone using MS Word on a virtual drive could in theory r infect their files on that drive). r A virus, in the strict sense of the word, can't do much, if anything, on r a Linux system. As someone (on this list?) pointed out, to infect a r linux box with a classic e-mail ploy, you'd have to do something like this: r Dear user, r Please copy the attached file foo to your home directory, or better r still, if you have root priveleges, somewhere like /usr/bin. Then type r chmod a+x foo. Hit return, type ./foo and hit return again. r There are a few worms that can get into a Linux system, but again you r should only be worried if you're running a server - for normal r workstation purposes, it's enough to set security on Mandrake to medium. r Robin r [ © ª N ª ® i º JØË ]¹ wrote: Mandrake-group: I wonder whether · an antivirus is mandatory for Mandrake and, if positive, · which one is recommended. Is there any good open source antivirus (for workstations) ? -- Sridhar Dhanapalan If I understood the GNU make syntax correctly (which is possibly not the case - GNU make is possibly the only example of overkill to rival GNU emacs), this looks like a reasonable idea. -- Linus Torvalds Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] Re[2]: is an anti-virus mandatory ?
Hi Joe (???), Here's an article that's in response to those claims made by Anti-Virus companies. http://www.roaringpenguin.com/mimedefang/anti-virus.html Keep reading and learning about linux and you'll start to understand why it is so much more secure than Winders. /curtis --**--**--** Current Linux kernel 2.4.13-12mdk uptime: 1 day 7 hours 49 minutes. On Tue, 2001-12-25 at 18:29, [ © ª N ª ® i º JØË ]¹ wrote: Robin, Mandrake-group: Thank you for your comments. I do not know much about linux. I am a fisheries biologist and have been stuck to msoft for years. I have several gigabytes of compressed articles, data analyses, mathematical simulations, references, etc. on MSoft file formats. Bad. I am trying to, gradually, migrate to linux (I choose Mandrake out of several distributions I tested). The virus issue is of great concern to me. Profesionally, *I am* those files (years of work). I have read some viruses could attack linux systems and more are expected to come. I do not know well the internals of linux but, can you be sure of ... say ... a macro virus (such as those which destroy the MSWord .doc format+contents) is impossible to make for a linux system running ... say ... StarOffice ? Cheers, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Ø©Eªnº - þªT®iª - NØsT®ª] Wednesday, December 26, 2001, 2:20:11 [Islas Canarias, GMT]. robin [EMAIL PROTECTED] escribió [25/12/2001, 12:39]: r For a workstation you shouldn't need antivirus software - it's normally r only necessary for servers where people are uploading stuff like Word r documents (e.g. someone using MS Word on a virtual drive could in theory r infect their files on that drive). r A virus, in the strict sense of the word, can't do much, if anything, on r a Linux system. As someone (on this list?) pointed out, to infect a r linux box with a classic e-mail ploy, you'd have to do something like this: r Dear user, r Please copy the attached file foo to your home directory, or better r still, if you have root priveleges, somewhere like /usr/bin. Then type r chmod a+x foo. Hit return, type ./foo and hit return again. r There are a few worms that can get into a Linux system, but again you r should only be worried if you're running a server - for normal r workstation purposes, it's enough to set security on Mandrake to medium. r Robin r [ © ª N ª ® i º JØË ]¹ wrote: Mandrake-group: I wonder whether · an antivirus is mandatory for Mandrake and, if positive, · which one is recommended. Is there any good open source antivirus (for workstations) ? Cheers, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Ø©Eªnº - þªT®iª - NØsT®ª] Tuesday, December 25, 2001, 0:02:34 [Islas Canarias, GMT]. --**--**--** Current Linux kernel 2.4.13-12mdk uptime: 1 day 7 hours 49 minutes. end of file Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com end of file Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com -- Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
