Re: security issue
In foo.debian-user, you wrote:
> I have a question regarding security issue with Debian and Linux in
> general. By now everyone has probably heard about the new Mellissa
> virus. I know that this doesn't affect Linux because it is related to
> M$ products only. However, I just wondered if anything of this sort
> could happen to a Linux system? I know that Linux in general is
> actually quite secure, but what makes it so? Just some information
> about Linux security issue would be appreciated. Thank you for any kind
> of info.
This particular virus is spread because the computer is allowed
to run scripts just from the act of viewing a document. This
could happen to Linux if we ever had a document format that was
both popular enough and able to execute unsafe macros.
Depending on the configuration and settings, this could happen
if we had a MSWord Viewer that ran macros, a Gnome/Baboon format,
or even an HTML/Javascript renderer built into the mail client.
Actually, this could happen with any buffer overflow exploit
found in a very popular mail client.
-Mitch
This is why email should be limited to text, and everything
else is evil (your turn George ;-) )
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