Hi, I am relatively new to adminning *nix boxes and would like to get some opinions on this subject. What are the common beliefs about putting antivirus programs on *nix boxes? My current setup is RH4ES. I have only opened the necessessary ports that I need via iptables. As far as ssh goes, it is setup to only allow access from a select few ip addresses, all the rest are not allowed. TIA.

At present, there are very few virii/trojans/worms that infect Linux systems (something like 80). Compared to the 10s of thousands of virus definitions for windows systems, 80 is a very small number.

That may change before long, as Linux is increasingly employed in enterprise.

In May 2004, or perhaps 2005, a proof-of-concept virus was released into the wild. It didn't do any damage; it just proved that it is possible to write a virus that infects both windows and Linux machines.

The main reasons I see for antivirus programs on a Linux machine:
a) you have Linux running as a network server, with windows machines in the network. The server anti-virus is a first line-of-defence for the windows machines for incoming data, and a final screening for outgoing data.
b) you use Linux at home and frequently forward files/mails to other machines, some of which are windows. Anti-virus screening of the incoming mail catches the nasties before you forward them.

linux is inherently quite secure, and as you only use root access when you need to make any system changes, generally this makes it a lot harder for viruses to have an effect on linux systems. the few viruses that are around are i believe proof of concept ones. i think as linux grows it will become a target.

as bigrig said, if the linux server or network has windows systems on it then a virus scanner is essential. for a standalone home linux pc, i would say while technically you shouldn't strictly need a virus scanner, it makes sense to have one. afterall, why take the risk?

Do any of you know of a free anti-virus program, that offers real time protection?

Thanks!

there's a few on-access solutions listed on clamav's site: http://clamav.net/3rdparty.html#fs

I use AVG Free edition on my windows pc and it has been nothing but superb. there's also a linux port of it, clicky to AVG