I just wondered if it's still true that there are few or no proven Linux viruses known to exist. When I checked a couple of years ago, the information I found seemed to indicate that there are either very few or none at all (in the wild).

Hi,

This theory still holds water: a virus can, if at all able to infect, merely exist in RAM. Infection on disk is not likely with a virus...

Thor

The wikipedia page on linux malware is worth looking at. Lots of refered links, etc..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_malware

They do exist, but if you manage your system well, you will very likely not be affected by them. No, I'm not saying that you must run anti-virus, as I rarely run it. I'm saying that you should abide by the security standards, and do things like run as root, use Ubuntu, etc.

Viri are rare in the linux world, but there are worse things. I have had client machines hacked and a range of rootkits and worms or trojans installed. I suggest running clam antivirus and rootkithunter daily, and getting familiar with the resulting reports. I also have logwatch mail me a summary, and read it daily.

If you can totally recover the machine in a couple of hours by reinstalling (my laptop, for example), then it is not worth this degree of attention. I do and recommend this only for the critical servers.

Anyone who claims that threats do not exist for the platform, has either never been hit by one, or was and blamed the results on hardware failure or operator error. They DO exist, they ARE bad, but you ARE safer with Linux than with anything from Microsoft since MS-DOS 6.0!

I understand, but why do you cite DOS 6.0 as a milestone?

Incorrect. A malware, if launched, can wipe out entire user's home dir on linux system. If home dir contains anything that is automatically started (~/.kde/Autostart and bashrc come to mind), it can write malicious code there, and install background process. Malware is unlikely to propagate and gain root privileges, but it is still possible to wreak havoc within one user account, encrypt your files for ransom, etc. If home dir contains executables (games) they can be (in theory) infected. Also wpeckham was correct to mention rootkits.

Ahem... using words "MS-DOS" and "virus safety" together is a bad idea.
MS-DOS had virtually no security - no multi user system, no access rights, it were running in real mode by default, and entire ram is visible for program. A heaven for virus writers.

Yes there are virus, malwares etc but careful use of your computer is usually all that is required to keep it safe. I am not saying 100% you can't get hit but it is not a common thing.

But considering very few, if any, people use MS-DOS 6 (the one wpeckham mentioned) for anything that can even get close to the internet it is most probably quite safe compared to modern Windows systems.

Exactly. This should be the overarching thought.
*BTW it's "viruses": "viri" is the plural of "vir" (man).

+1.

http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/plural-of-virus.html

Good reading:
http://www.happyassassin.net/2009/01...inux-security/
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/foobar/6229

Yves.

"Here are your Christmas boni." --Mr. Burns

Lol

true, but back then there was always the danger of picking up a floppy that was infected (step back a few years and you'd realize that floppies, or copies of those floppies, were changing hands quite a bit in those days and an infected floppy was in fact a real threat) not to mention there were dial-up BBS services that could have been repositories of infected material, yes fewer people used BBSes than they do the internet today, but there were fewer people who had computers back then as well.

as for viruses for Linux? yeah they exist, but it takes less effort on the part of a Linux administrator to avoid them, since Linux, unlike windows is designed from the ground up to provide a least privilege security model that mitigates the threat to some extent.

if i recall correctly the only platform with no known viruses is the AS-400 (the operative word here being KNOWN viruses)

Sure.
Thanks to Linux security, if a malware of any sort comes to your account, the worst it can do is delete files under your own name, such as all your personal data, years of mail exchanges, years of family photographs. No big deal.
Thankfully, the OS is safe! Else you’d have to loose 20 minutes reinstalling from USB or DVD, which would be a shame…