Do i need spyware or virus protection with linux? Options

[saints1884]

Do i need to download any spyware or virus protection when useing linux? If so what would you recomend i download?

Thank you for your time.

[andsome]

I don't use either, but I would be VERY surprised if you didn't

[saints1884]

I don't use either, but I would be VERY surprised if you didn't

I dont have any as i only installed linux a few days ago,and i am still trying to get used to it. Any recomendations?

[-pops-]

Linux is not prone to malicious attack like Windows but, be assured, the great unwashed are working on it right now.

Linux teneded to be exempt from the attention of these parasites but, with increasing popularity of Windows alternatives, so the attention is being directe towards them.

It's similar to the browser alternatives to Internet Explorer. Because I.E. held almost the entire market at one time, it was the prime target for malware. As other browsers became more popular (Firefox, Opera etc) so these drew the attention of the spyware/virus ware generators.

As for recommendations, there are several Linux users on here. I'm sure they will be able to give expert advice soon.

[saints1884]

Linux is not prone to malicious attack like Windows but, be assured, the great unwashed are working on it right now.

Linux teneded to be exempt from the attention of these parasites but, with increasing popularity of Windows alternatives, so the attention is being directe towards them.

It's similar to the browser alternatives to Internet Explorer. Because I.E. held almost the entire market at one time, it was the prime target for malware. As other browsers became more popular (Firefox, Opera etc) so these drew the attention of the spyware/virus ware generators.

As for recommendations, there are several Linux users on here. I'm sure they will be able to give expert advice soon.

Thanks for the reply. It's good to know that linux is quite safe to use,and that i dont have to clog up my pc with spyware downloads ect,and the fact that my pc hasn't crashed or restarted on it's own,is all good news.

This post has been edited by saints1884: Jul 5 2005, 15:22

[scuzzman]

You should note this as well. Linux' security structure all but forbids virii unless they're specifically launched by the user. Even in that case, they can only infect your home directory, unless your always running as root (and any competent Linux user will tell you this is incredibly stupid).

[scuzzman]

I just found this: The short life and hard times of a Linux virus
There's also this (humorous) article: Running Windows viruses with Wine

[korgg]

Yeap viruses spread though wine.. You realize that when you run a game and see that the exe file you run tries to access a lot of other files that has nothing to do with the game... It's quite fun to see it
Now if you have a public IP the first thing is to have a good password policy. A password like "annie" is one of the worse... There are out there a lot of scripts that test the user/pass combinations.. And another thing is to keep the users to a minimum.. And you should never run as root.
Disabling services that you don't use would help...
For example: I only use ssh to remote connect to my computer so sshd id the only service that I use. I don't need Samba and when I use it I set it to run only in my private network (at home), no apache, no sendmail...
The term virus is not an adequate one. Script is better... A malicious script tries to enter your system by guessing your user/pass combination or because of a bug in some service you run... I go out to the internet through a proxy and this helps a lot.. But there are times when the proxy is unavailable and then I'm directly connected... And every time there is someone that try to break my system... The reason for breaking seems to be in most cases the use of the CPU time for some sort of contests... www.securityfocus.com for some examples..
Hope this helps you a little ...

[scuzzman]

I've actaully never had a legitimate break-in attempt on my Slackware box. Publically connected, with sshd, proftpd, and webmin running. Then again, I'm running everything on non-standard ports.

[saints1884]

Thank you for the reply's,very helpful. Now if i can work out why i cant play music cd's or dvd's on my pc that would be great.

[scuzzman]

Does your user have read access to the devices?
Please post the output of these commands:

CODE

ls -l /dev/hd*
ls -l /dev/sd*
ls -l /dev/cd*

[saints1884]

Does your user have read access to the devices?
Please post the output of these commands:

CODE

ls -l /dev/hd*
ls -l /dev/sd*
ls -l /dev/cd*

Hmm.....Where or how do i put the code into?

Rant- How come companys that make games for windows/mac/consols can make these games for them yet they dont make them compatable for liunx? Is it not just as much work or expense for them to make it for mac/consols?

[Ferdinand]

Present are VERY few viruses that are written for Linux. Viruses written for Windows will not harm Linux {In much the same way that programs that run on Windows will not run on Linux}.
It is always a good idea to run an anti-virus regardless of what OS you are using just to be confident. Fortunately the anti virus programs for Linux are {mostly} free.