Linux infection proves Windows malware monopoly is over

peter smout peter.smout at o2.co.uk
Wed Jun 16 08:34:12 BST 2010


On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:24:43 -0600, Conrad Knauer wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 10:49 PM, Fred A. Miller <fmiller at lightlink.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Linux infection proves Windows malware monopoly is over
>>
>> Every time I write about Windows security software, I get a predictable
>> flood of responses from Linux advocates who claim that they don't need
>> any such protection.
> 
> http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/linux-infection-proves-windows-malware-
monopoly-is-over-gentoo-ships-backdoor-updated/2206
> 
> which refers to the UnrealIRCd issue of late:
> http://www.unrealircd.com/txt/unrealsecadvisory.20100612.txt
> 
> How "security software" would have stopped a backdoor in a program when
> the server tampering hadn't been noticed until now escapes me; contrary
> to the assertion "A similarly infected Windows file in the wild would be
> detected within days if not hours after a routine virus scan by someone
> checking the download before installing it." if it is not a virus but
> rather just added/replaced code (as seems to be the case here in the
> "struct.h" file), then there is no guarantee at all that it would have
> been detected in Windows.
> 
> The author (note well the title of his blog: "Ed Bott's Microsoft
> Report") seems to think this somehow undermines the whole of Linux
> security, yet one notes in the security advisory that "We will also
> re-implement PGP/GPG signing of releases." which is what Ubuntu does
> right now... in fact if you try to install from an unsigned repository,
> you get a warning first :)
> 
> Ah well, Microsoft and their fanboys can scream all they want about
> being "more secure" than Linux (seriously, see
> http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/
turner/2009/04-06MMCIOSummit.mspx
> "Vista today, post-Service Pack 2, which is now in the marketplace, is
> the safest, most reliable OS we've ever built. It's also the most secure
> OS on the planet, including Linux and open source and Apple Leopard.
> It's the safest and most secure OS on the planet today.") but you need
> to run A/V in Windows and you don't in Linux, it's as simple as that.
> 
> CK

Hi,
Dont know enough about the 'chroot's' etc to comment ut I can say I have 
been running Ubuntu for almost 2 years now and never had any known 
virus / malware / trojan problems!

this would have been unheard of in my win xp days! Not only that but has 
saved me at least £40 (GBP) on not having to buy proprietary anti virus 
(kaspersky, norton, etc).



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