Question: Do I need to have AntiVirus Software running on my Linux Machine?
Written by Karl L. Gechlik | AskTheAdmin.com on July 31, 2007 – 6:21 pm -And now I am going to tell you why. There are about 100 know Linux viruses out there and they are not be turning up new ones every day like windows viruses BUT they do exist. And not being protected is just stupid. No offense. Actually you can take offense I don’t realy care. I personally back up every OS incrementally and run some sort of AV software with heuristics. This should give you some protection from Zero day threats.
Ok ok simmer down. Now onto WHY I think it is very necessary to be protected. I have a question for you:
Do you have insurance? You know medical dental or what not?
Of course you do you woud be crazy not to becuase WHAT IF something happens. This should be your same attitude to computer security. Do you have a lock on your home? How about a security alarm?
Are you following me here? As an Admin I always feel it is better safe then sorry. And especially if it is all because you were SURE that no one could hack into YOUR machine. Now who better to have a try at it than a Linux Guru? It won’t be long before the spammers and virus writers get tired of the Windows platform and move on… After all isn’t Mac OSX built on Linux?
Here is an excerpt from DesktopLinux.com:
Security, and freedom from viruses, has been one of the key selling points for
moving to Linux in the home and for the enterprise. How is Linux at risk from
viruses today? by Keith Peer
Currently there are under 100 native Linux viruses known but in many organizations the fact that a Linux viruses exists is enough reason to install and use Linux antivirus protection on Linux desktops and servers.
Additionaly users of StarOffice and OpenOffice.org have the ability to
open and view Microsoft Office documents that may contain viruses. These viruses
may not infect the Linux computer but the user can easily attach and send these
infected documents unknowingly to someone else and that is a serious problem.As
system administrators move to Linux files servers they have a real problem to
deal with since the Linux file server can store Windows-based viruses.Windows-based viruses can write to a Linux/Samba network share as easily as they can on a Microsoft Windows based network. System administrators must protect the Linux server from storing these viruses. The only way is through active
antivirus defense on the Linux server itself. Our Vexira Antivirus for Linux, as
an example, detects not only Linux-based viruses but also Windows and DOS-based
as well, I think the current number of malicious or potentially malicious
applications (viruses, trojans, worms, etc…) we detect is above 74,000
now.Still not sure continue reading this article for more Fan boy dream killing information… _TheAdmiN_
Tags: Linux, Ubuntu
Posted in General |
By Unknown on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
Ahh but Sloth is your Clam just scanning mail or the os as well?
By Unknown on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
that is good 2 know
By The Slothman on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
I have clam on my email gateway and it does a fantastic job of filtering out viruses to the point where my Symantec on my Domino box hasn’t had to pick up a virus since 2/23/07!
Yet Clam has picked up hundreds
By Karl L. Gechlik on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
Ahh but Sloth is your Clam just scanning mail or the os as well?
By The Slothman on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
I would assume so….but you know what they say about assumption…it’s the mother of all f-ups.
By Anonymous on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
that is good 2 know
By El Di Pablo on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
Great post! and thanks for the link back to my article on Avast! When I submitted it to digg, I got a lot of negative responses in the digg comments about how antivirus isn’t necessary for Linux.
One person put an interesting comment about how if WINE is configured incorrectly your Linux machine could potentially get infected with a windows virus…Something to think about. What do you think Sloth?
By Psymon101 on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
Sloth, ClamAV is a wonderful tool for mail filtering, in conjunction with Spamassasin its better than some commercial applications.
WINE is just begging to be exploited, a WINE process can fork even when the winserver is long since gone, which then can has open range on sys calls.
When Linux becomes more main stream then more viruses will follow, unfortunately that’s how things go:(
By Unknown on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
Hey, look at the bright side. More viruses means more hackers think Linux is widespread enough to mess with!
By Leon on Aug 1, 2007 | Reply
Hey, look at the bright side. More viruses means more hackers think Linux is widespread enough to mess with!
By The Slothman on Aug 1, 2007 | Reply
@ Pablo: I think WINE is one of those geeky things where guys can say ‘look what I did’ and that is all well and good. I don’t think that I would use Linux with WINE for an app if I absolutely didn’t need to.
@psymon:
That is what I use it with. A virtual mail gateway appliance called ESVA from http://www.global-domination.org
VERY good email scanner.
By Mackenzie on Feb 28, 2008 | Reply
OK, now stop counting the viruses that aren't in the wild. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_comput...“> “>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_comput... 26 in the wild. Go through and read about them. Most were patched out of existence last century. Most of the rest can't infect an up-to-date version of Linux, if any at all can. No, the real reason to use AV on Linux is to protect the Windows users that send their mail through your server.
By Mackenzie on Feb 28, 2008 | Reply
OK, now stop counting the viruses that aren't in the wild. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_comput...“> “>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_comput... 26 in the wild. Go through and read about them. Most were patched out of existence last century. Most of the rest can't infect an up-to-date version of Linux, if any at all can. No, the real reason to use AV on Linux is to protect the Windows users that send their mail through your server.