Re: Anti-malware for my personal Debian workstation?
On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:06:59 +0200 (CEST)
l0f4r0@tuta.io wrote:
>
> Anti-malware on Windows is common/best practice. However, as we are
> discussing it here, things seem to be different with Linux. I don't
> really think Linux is intrinsically more secure than Windows nowadays
> (a vulnerability remains as such) but I really think Linux ecosystem
> is.
My feeling is that running as root is considered an extreme no-no in
Linux (probably apart from the toy distros) and it is this that makes
Linux viruses non-viable. There just aren't enough infectable targets.
(Most) Linux users are horrified by the thought of surfing the Web with
root privileges, most Windows users are not even aware that their
computers can be run at one of two privilege levels (many more with the
business/professional versions).
Even today, with a new Windows 10 installation, the first user is given
root privileges by default, and no advice is offered about demoting the
user to unprivileged later.
About fifteen years ago, I used to help out on a Small Business Server
newsgroup (later web forum) and I was amazed at how sloppy many other
helpers (including MCSEs, which I wasn't) were as regards security.
What really didn't help was the need for each user of a workstation to
open the Office applications for the first time with root privileges,
otherwise some initialisations didn't happen. Lazy admins just gave all
the new users root privileges for a week or two to let them sort it out.
You can't win against that kind of mindset.
--
Joe
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