[Nottingham] Anti-virus (and kmail address book)

[Graeme Fowler]

On Thu 18 Aug 2005 11:33:45 BST , David Wolfson 
<eaxdrw at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
<snip>
> What does the nlug collective use?
> Do they use anything?
> Are there enough linux viruses out there to worry about?

Interesting discussion, this, and one which raises its' head on 
Slashdot et al reasonably frequently.
Linux/UNIX users tend, in my experience, to view malware in all its' 
forms as just that - malware. In that you can include trojans, viruses, 
worms, skr1pt k1dd13 cruft and many other things, and the only thing 
which really differs is the infection or attack vector.

I don't remember a "virus" infecting Linux systems; worms yes - li0n 
being a notable one - but the massive choice of platforms, operating 
systems, application software and interface means that writing an 
all-encompassing (say) email virus to penetrate the Linux userbase is 
nigh on impossible. Or not quite as easy, let's say, as writing a tiny 
UPX packed executable to attack holes in Outlook Express :)

Personally I run ClamAV and H+BEDV Antivir on my mail exchanger via 
Exim, and I have them both installed on my personal machines too but 
only really ever use them to scan Samba shares on the server at home.

Maybe I'm a little complacent, but barring problems with customer 
machines at work (and the occasional rare problem with some of our 
systems) I've never experienced a "virus" of any kind on my Linux 
systems at all. Or a successful attack of any sort, for that matter. I 
guess it's only a matter of time, then!

Graeme