anti virus

ramorg · 01-24-2002, 10:09 AM

I've heard that there are no viruses on linux,
is this truth?
If no,what is a good antivirus for linux?
thanks

te_conway · 01-24-2002, 10:18 AM

I've heard this too but I don't think it's 100% true.

I have RAV antivirus (http://www.rav.ro/) on my linux server. I don't have a mail server but I do have Samba share directories so users can save email attachments to my samba shares.

I have the latest Norton antivirus on the win clients and run RAV thru a cron job each night on my shares and root and boot file systems.

Better safe than sorry.

acid_kewpie · 01-24-2002, 10:33 AM

there are about 5 known viruses (virii?) on linux. somewhat less than the 5000+ on windows. Unix based OS's are generally free from infection from the solid user rights integral to the system.

yorkie · 01-24-2002, 05:02 PM

I recently read a letter about this in Linux Format. Whilst Linux is significantly less prone to viruses than some other platforms that we know of, certain viruses could affect linux (like the happy new year virus, which affects txt files, not the system)

The letter seemed to focus more on having your system protected, so as not to be responsible for spreading the viruses any further (seems like a good point)

Also stated in this letter was the fact that McAfee apparently has a Linux version of it`s virus checker, so you may want to do a search for that.

isajera · 01-24-2002, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by yorkie
I recently read a letter about this in Linux Format. Whilst Linux is significantly less prone to viruses than some other platforms that we know of, certain viruses could affect linux (like the happy new year virus, which affects txt files, not the system)

... i think that depends on the editor used to open the txt file. txt files can't execute anything on their own - i don't think linux systems would be prone to catch that virus.

kewp was more or less right - there are very very few linux viruses - but there will probably be more written as linux gets more popular. right now, a well configured linux box or network is practically impervious to virii - consequently, no one has had any need to write any general anti-virus programs. ( haven't heard of anything from mcafee, but i wouldn't be surprised) the last linux virus was a trojan - and a friendly hacker out there wrote a prog specifically to root it out mere hours after the virus was reported. this is how linux anit-virus works at the moment.

dilela · 02-21-2003, 07:25 PM

te-conway, can we possibly chat about server issues. I have a new server and will be hosting web sites, I need to know if anti-virus software is recommended and if so, which one?

Thanks

dilela

Crashed_Again · 02-21-2003, 08:22 PM

I am running a web server and I'm using f-prot. I just run the update script and a virus check every now and then. 6 months with linux and not one virus detected by f-prot yet. Either the virus scan isn't working(which I don't think is the case) or I haven't gotten any viruses yet.

dilela · 02-21-2003, 08:30 PM

Did you get the one for small businesses? I don't know which one is right for a server. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.

dilela

____________________________________________________Great spirits always encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds......Albert Einstein