DSL Ideas and Suggestions :: DSL-Antivirus

Most Linux antivirus programs are actually used to filter or detect MSWindows viruses that are harmless to the Linux machine.

They are primarily used for e-mail server filtering (to prevent virus-infected emails from reaching MSWindows users) or for system rescue (to revive dead MSWindows installations).

There are a few antivirus programs that will also scan for Unix/Linux viruses and trojans but most users don't bother to use them because as of today there is no "Linux Virus" problem to worry about.

Thanks for the info cbagger01. As I am still fairly new to linux, I guess I still view a virus program as a type of security blanket of sorts for my system. Not used to not having to worry about them I guess.

If you want that extra security blanket, there are virus scanners available for linux viruses that can be installed.

But most users seem to be satisfied with the way linux handles security by design.

Now if someone figures out how to develop an effective linux virus or trojan horse, this could change. But so far the built-in security concepts that come with linux and other unix-like operating systems combined with the lesser "Bang for the buck" that a virus writer gets as a reward when attacking something other than the popular MSWindows have both helped prevent effective linux viruses.

I am more concerned with trojan-horse style social engineering based attacksin the distant future, where the bad guys depend on the gullibility of the user to defeat the built-in security.

For example, even if you have a MSWindows virus scanner but you decide to install "free" file sharing software that comes bundled with voluntarily installed spyware programs, your virus scanner is useless to protect you.

Same is true for linux. All the built-in security in the world will not prevent a user from doing something stupid that hurts him or herself.

But I digress...

original here.