Considering that there is more and more use of free-ware in Linux, and that many of those free-ware utilities are installed by non root users (ie. games or neat programs), there is some potential for a Trojan horse attack, particularly if the source code is not available to the Linux community or the software is in beta version (which may not have gone through much supervison yet).
The fact that the Trojan horse is still limited by the kernel restrictions (assuming it's not within a device driver), does not give me much comfort. Even if I do backups regularly, the thought of having to restore my home directory is not appealing at all. Specially if I had to restore those of many users. The main advantage of Unix based systems (like Linux), is that at least they have security, they take advantages of CPU capabilities to protect the OS. It is not like other systems which welcome viruses with open harms. At least Linux has locks on the door, but if you let them in, it's a new ball game. On Tuesday 05 February 2002 22:07, Terry Mathews wrote: > For a virus to damage more than the current user's files, it would need > root access. For that, it would have to have some sort of ability to "root" > the system, usually overflowing a port. The problem is that a virus that > could root several different UNIXes running different versions of services > would have to have many different hacks in it and would be very large in > size, and just the size alone would alert people to the fact it's a virus. > > Viruses get by on x86 systems because of common exploitable problems. A > 10-15MB virus would be much, much easier to detect. > > > > Well, I don't know if I'd go that far. They aren't common, but linux > > > or any unix (or any OS really) can have a virus/worm written for it. > > > > A worm is not a virus. I think there's only 1 true virus written for > > Unix, and it was more of a "proof of concept, IIRC. -- Gerard Perreault [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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