Nik, On Mon, 2006-10-09 at 09:00 +0100, Nik Butler wrote:
> demonstrate a working Linux Virus that can > infect their Ubuntu desktop account ( and other users of that same > machine ) by being launched from a email attachment. > it must infect the core system files. > it must set up its own mail user agent which it uses to propogate > copies of itself to members of your address book. > it must attempt to replicate it self succesfully into another machines. Maybe this is obvious, but this, to me, assumes the rather narrow view that the only threat out there is self propagating viruses. This is the case neither for Windows systems nor Linux systems. Even the BCC article does not say all the attacks were viruses! I've seen plenty of Linux/Unix systems compromised. The vast majority have been compromised through weak passwords or user's password being discovered. Most attacks seem to result in the running of a IRC bot, which can then be used to launch DDOS attacks or SPAM or whatever. I've also seen system utilities replaced with versions that hide the bad software, so root access must have been gained somehow. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether any of this is self-propagating. Regards, Tony. -- Tony Arnold, IT Security Coordinator, University of Manchester, IT Services Division, Kilburn Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. T: +44 (0)161 275 6093, F: +44 (0)870 136 1004, M: +44 (0)773 330 0039 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED], H: http://www.man.ac.uk/Tony.Arnold -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
