Re: security (malware) issues in Linux bases OSes
H.S. wrote:
> Hello,
>
> In the last some weeks I recall reading in one of the mailing lists that
> it is just a matter of popularity that we are not seeing bad intentioned
> debs or rpms on the internet. If Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora were to become
> sufficiently popular, the claim is that it would be just as easy and
> popular to infect these OSes by making a user install something like
> NakedBrittany.deb as is now the case with Windows users.
>
> I realize that a clueless user is always going to be weakest link in the
> fence against malware infection.
Yes and no. Yes Linux can and certainly will be compromised through the social
engineering approach. No one is totally immune to that.
No, popularity has very little to do with it. Windows is compromised a lot
because it is trivial to do so. Linux could have twice the market share as
Windows, and it would still be less prone to invasion, simply because it is
more difficult to do so. This has been demonstrated time and time again in both
real world and simulated 'contests'. Hands down, Linux is a hundred times more
difficult to crack.
This article is the best explanation I have ever seen for the security 'layman'.
http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/188
--
J
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