On 04/03/07, Benjamin Webb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > So, I've got a hardware firewall in my router, so I shouldn't need a > software one. > > What about anti-virus software though? Is there any software that > scans for Linux viruses, or do they all just check for windows ones? > > I'll make sure I use a different password for my Ubuntu install (I'm > terrible for using the same password all the time at the moment). > > Thanks for all your help. > Ben Webb >
ClamAV was mentioned earlier in the other thread -- that does primarily scan for Windows viruses, but it will also detect malicious Linux binaries (as well as other things, such as malicious PHP scripts). Earlier this evening, I happened to watch a video of a talk given by Bruce Schnier[1] in which he mentions the tradeoffs which come with security measures. In this case you're trading the CPU time required for scanning (most of which is spent looking for viruses which can't affect you) for peace of mind. The question you have to ask is, is it worth it? As a Linux user it isn't -- the risk of encountering an effective Linux virus is exceptionally small, and my computer runs slow enough as it is. That obviously doesn't apply to servers which handle files for Windows users (file servers, email, etc.). In that case ClamAV is very useful. But for a single desktop machine you're just wasting your own time. 1: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/schneier_on_vid.html -- Adam McMaster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
