[Wolves] Linux viruses

[Barbie]

There are Linux viruses about, as are Mac viruses. MessageLabs see a very low number of them. Essentially Linux is a much more secure operating system, so as Aq points out the target is more likely to be your home directory and your network ports.

I will check some stats with our AntiVirus team in a bit.

I will also look at having one of the AV team come and give a talk at a future Birmingham Perl Mongers meeting, so I'll post to the list if I manage to organise that. If anyone is interested, you'll then be able come along and ask a ton of questions :)

However, also to agree with Aq [1], you're more likely to see a network worm, which can often disguise itself as a security update, which then sits waiting on a port for instructions to act on DDoS attacks or as open relays for spammers.

Just spoke with the AV guys and we have seen about 4 different viruses for Linux in the history of MessageLabs, that's in over 6 years. And it's estimated there are only about 20 in total.

I recently saw some stats regarding our service. Of 100% of mail scanner, something like 60-70% is spam and about 10% are viruses. This just our service but others are seeing similar patterns. Spam is increasing much faster than viruses. Its just that viruses mostly have disastrous effects that spark media interest, which in turn drive the virus writers for more fame ... a vicious circle.

[1] Wow a Python addict and a Perl addict agree ... twice ... shocker!

Barbie.
-- 
Barbie (@missbarbell.co.uk) | Birmingham Perl Mongers user group | http://birmingham.pm.org/

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