[Please wrap your lines! It makes it much easier to read, and thus more
likely that you'll get a response. Anywhere between 70 and 80 is
acceptable; 72 seems to be a nice value.]
On Mon, Feb 02, 2004 at 08:51:03PM -0800, MJ Inabnit said
> Greetings:
>
> I have read several opinions regarding AV for Gnu/Linux. The last one
> is Rick's rant
> <http://www.linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/index.php?page=virus>. However,
> the information is dated.
>
> So what is the opinion now-a-days? I just read a post last week where
> a new Gnu/Linux user strongly advocates AV for all new users. The
^^^
Windows users seem to have a fixation on anti-virus software. The Linux
approach is to just not run crap random people send to you. I have
never ever heard of a mail client aside from Outlook that will even let
you run executables emailed to you without at least displaying a
huge-ass warning.
The other important point is that Linux (and all Unices that I'm aware
of) do not consider something executable just because a file has a
certain extension. To run a program, it has to have the +x permission
bit set on it, which (AFAIK, but I'm pretty damn sure) is impossible for
an email attachment to set.
> claim was something along the line of "What if I send you an Email
> with an executable attachment like [cd, rm -r]".
Then you laugh at them and forward it to your linux-using friends so
they can laugh at the poster as well. Unless you manually run that
script, nothing will happen. Nothing at all. Also, how could a
anti-virus scanner prevent you from running this? A kernel module that
stops shell scripts from ever executing the "unlink()" syscall (what rm
does)?
> I still don't buy the claim that I need AV on my box, but I'm also
> very open to sound security advice.
Don't run crap random people send you. Keep up to date with updates
from security.debian.org (when it's revived, anyway). Read
debian-security-announce. Brush your teeth. Oh, and kudos for being
skeptical :-)
--
Rob Weir <rweir@ertius.org> | mlspam@ertius.org | Do I look like I want a CC?
Words of the day: terrorism interception Fidel Castro Aldergrove Consul Fat Man
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