Firewall and/or anti-virus

[Antonio Augusto (Mancha)]

On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 16:59, Web1 <daweber at wiktel.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Is there any reason to have either an anti-virus or firewall on
> Kubuntu?  I have downloaded clam anti-virus but it doesn't appear to
> have real time protection.  I have read that there isn't a reason to
> have either an anti-virus or firewall for Kubuntu, I was just checking
> to make sure that they are not needed prior to me doing my banking and
> such on Kubuntu.  I have this on a separate hard drive from windows XP
> and are slowly transferring over to it.  Pretty good learning curve, but
> its fun and challenging.
>
> If I do need an anti-virus, firewall, spy-ware blocker and such, could
> you guys please recommend the best of each of these to install?
>
> Thanks and am glad I am making the switch.
>

Hello Web, and Welcome to the Linux word :)
As most peopleo already said in this thread you is a lot safer by
using Linux than Windows, and, as for now, you don't need to worry
"too much" with firewalls and/or Antivirus.

But I think some things need to be made clearer: for starts its not
IMPOSSIBLE to one write a virus that attacks Linux, it just isn't as
widespreed as Windows virus are, simply because Linux is not as
popular as Windows. When Linux becomes a mainstream OS with everyone
using it you bet crackers you start trying to find ways to write virus
to it.

Virus, worms and all that stuff are based on bugs found on the OS,
that is: by errors of human beings. And guess what, the same way a
person writes a program with bugs in Windows, some one can write a
program with bugs in Linux. And it has been done before and A LOT.
What do you think are all those updates that Kubuntu keeps telling you
to install? Bugs being fixed, and if you don't install these updates,
usually, you are as vulnerable as any Windows user.

Also, even in the case of a Linux virus it wouldn't spreed as long as
their windows counterpart, and the reson is simple: on Windows, you
usually run as Administrator but on Linux, you usually runs as a
normal user, which has even less permissions than a regular user on
Windows :)
So yeah, in this side you are a lot safer than you would be on Windows.
BUUT... as said, in the even of a Virus your personal files (that, in
the end, as a personal user, is what matter) would be at danger. So
yeah, if you get a Linux virus you are as screwed as on Windows.

On the Firewall sides of thigs, you already know what the options are.
And yeah, usually is a good idea to have one. This is the case because
sometimes you want to restricted the access to some applications that
run on your machine.

Hope this helps you a bit. At the end it does not hurts to be carefull
with what you do around the net :)

Cheers,
KM