On Sun, 2004-08-29 at 20:26, Josh Coates wrote: > just fyi, i've run several very large infrastructures - consisting of > windows and linux machines (many, many hundreds of machines) and i can think > of two incidents where i had problems like you are describing (except the > porn thing - i have to admit, i've never seen porn just 'show up' on a users > system through some virus/trojan/malware but i'm sure it has happened - > though it may be a convenient fiction for some ;-)
Well, one guy knew it was because he had clicked on a bad e-mail attachment, and the other didn't know what he had done, but I'm sure he clicked something....so yeah, it didn't just show up, but it was most definitely unwanted, and unsolicited. > anyway, some attackers broke into one of our large linux cluster using an > ssh exploit (circa 2001), and another time a virus spread across many dozen > of our machines infecting elf binaries (spring 2004). yes, both problems > were on a linux platform. interestingly enough, we had about 50 win2k > servers in the cluster (circa 2001), and never had any problems with them > getting breached - just the linux machines via that ssh exploit. Oh yeah, well I know a guy who...and we had this system at work that...but enough of this anecdotal evidence. All software has problems, personally I prefer the problems that come with Linux more than Windows, and I don't see any reason to not let others know of the alternative to MS software, even if they aren't engineers or hobbyists. > hey, i the first to admit that windows is not the poster-child for security, > but i am just pointing out that i dont think that linux has much to brag > about in this department. we've all probably heard the statistics about > computer break-ins and about how linux is the champion of cracked operating > systems (yes, its probably because it is something worth breaking into, blah > blah.) I haven't heard those statistics, but I admit I don't know everything... > most people realize that windows has more virus activity simply > because it is more popular on the desktop, and the users tend to be more > naive about running arbitrary code on their systems. I've heard pretty good arguments against this theory, but I think the easiest thing for us to all agree on is that if we had more diversity of software in our technological ecosystem, these plagues would have a much harder time spreading and being so successful. > just trying to be fair. ;-) It's always good to hear some variety of opinion here. Bryan > On Sat, 2004-08-28 at 22:17, Josh Coates wrote: > > <heresy> > > this might be heresy, but i honestly don't think it's a good use of time > to > > try and 'convert' non-techy people to linux. linux is an os for servers, > > engineers and hobbyists. > > > > i could care less if my mom has linux running on her desktop, and in fact, > i > > don't think i would wish that upon her, or anyone else who is a non-techy. > > </heresy> > > On the other hand, I've heard so many people complaining lately about > walking into their home office two days after hooking up their cable > internet and seeing a screen full of porn, or finding their hard drive > is full of porn images (and likely serving them up to others), or being > plagued with viruses, or even just the annoying netsend pop-ups, I'm > aghast. I've been using primarily Linux at home for the past couple > years and I guess I've been blissfully unaware of such problems. Those > things I'm sure I wouldn't wish upon anyone. > > Now, I haven't yet started recommending to my parents, sisters, and > in-laws to switch over to Linux, but I'm oh so tempted every time I > spend a couple hours cleaning up their computers for them. I'm sure I > would still be providing plenty tech support if they all switched to > Linux, definitely a lot more than I do now until they got used to > things, but I think I would enjoy supporting Linux and it's difficulties > much more than these nasty other problems they've experienced. Maybe > someday... > > Bryan > ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
