>What if tomorrow linux was as popular as windows, you have linux
>users who bought computers with linux preinstalled, they don't know or care
>about the OS, they might not even know what an OS was. They just need to use
>the computer for the business applications, play games, surf the web, etc.
>Someone they know sends them a replicating email virus that says "run this,
>it turns your screen upside down and tells you a funny joke" what would stop
>it from spreading like IL***Y** and M*L*SS*?
>(I'm not a unix expert, I maybe missing something)
>
>I think the potential for a replicating linux email virus is there, but at
>the moment we're projected by the number of linux users and their high educat
>ion.
Sure it's there but AFAIK there isn't yet a *x mail reader that allows the
user one-click *execution* of attachments. This is an important barrier
that must not be lowered. Users, dumb or not, must not be allowed to
execute foreign scripts or programs as easily as the Outlook virus engine
allows. If a Linux user were to go to the trouble of extracting an unknown
attachment and then running it, then I'd say he deserves what he gets.
And we must always be vigilant against such dangerous features being put
into *x mail readers. Or any kind of macro file facility that could be
overwritten by attachments.
Hmm, wonder if somebody could inject a SORRY! virus into the PM's
office. :-)
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