On Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:35:26 +0200, Anders Johansson wrote:
On Wednesday 09 July 2008 19:30:44 Jim Henderson wrote:
I've been a Linux user for nearly 12 years now. Do I use virus protection? No. Why? Because, like you said, it's not needed. However, I also am *careful* about what websites I visit and what programs I run. As more and more "typical" users use Linux, *perhaps* this is something that will be needed. Perhaps not.
That doesn't mean it's not an option worth exploring.
What exactly do you think a virus scanner can do for you? Do you seriously believe it can protect against malicious code?
I have *seen* virus scanners protect against malicious code. Unknown malicious code? No, but (for example) when I had a lab full of machines that got infected by the Yale/Alameda virus because of students not being careful, I was glad to have a TSR virus scanner to prevent it from getting into memory in the first place.
A virus scanner looks for well known virus code. By definition, it is only useful once there are known viruses to look for. Any damaging code that is not already well known will not be found.
*Exactly*. Are you saying there's no value in looking for *known* threats? I'm not quite sure what your point is here.
Unless of course you think scanners look for all instances of "rm", or calls to socket() to send email, or whatever else viruses do.
No, I'm very well acquainted with what virus scanners can do (and do), having used them for many, many years, as well as having experimented with virus interactions in a secured environment.
Do you can safely ignore a virus scanner on your linux-only system until you start reading about virus proliferation, because then - and only then - will a virus scanner find anything.
That doesn't mean there isn't value in planning for that possibility.
Don't hold your breath though. As several have said already, the attack vector just isn't there
I'm not convinced it's not there. I'm convinced it isn't being used today. As long as there are users using systems, the vector is there. Many viruses spread now through social engineering. Jim -- Jim Henderson Please keep on-topic replies on the list so everyone benefits -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org