Linux Virus/Distro Question
 

Let us assume that there is a Linux Virus. Can it target any Linux Distro ? Or will it be limited to one distro ? Thanks.

Vijay

more or less any standard linux distro is the answer to that question

I'm sure they could have one target a particular distro as well, depending on how whoever programmed it as certain distros are built differently.
But I'm sure anyone who creates a virus for Linux is going to try and make it so it attacks any standard distro.

Wow if that happens and becomes common then, perhaps users may switch over to BSD. Or perhaps who knows another brand new OS may emerge ?

Vijay

it wont happen as long as people have the sense to use there root accounts carfully and they keep all there daemons patched up to date. executables only have the capabilities of the user that executed them so running a program as a normal user cant damage the system, it can only damage that persons home directory. bsd is pretty much the same as linux for executable permissions so anything that can target linux could target bsd or any of the other unices.

now if you were to ask how long before we have distros that use pam to completely remove authentication, and the root user gets logged in automatically i would unfortunately have to say very soon, this is where i see distros like mandrake going. its the age old battle of user friendliness vs security and unfortunately i think the former will win. when that happens we'll have more viruses than words in the dictionary.

Moving to Linux - Security

Cool

This is very good to know. In that case, perhaps those who wish to stay safe can continue to use the older versions of Linux. I am sure that they would all be available somewhere on the net for download evven then.

Vijay :newbie: :)

one word: ramen ;)