[ubuntu-uk] Imagine if Linux become massively popular?

[Liam Proven]

On 13 June 2013 17:04, Tony Arnold <tony.arnold at manchester.ac.uk> wrote:
> Liam,
>
> On 13/06/13 16:37, Liam Proven wrote:
>> On 13 June 2013 15:02, Tony Arnold <tony.arnold at manchester.ac.uk> wrote:
>>> OS X can be compromised.
>>
>> *All* operating systems can be compromised.
>>
>>> Doesn't really matter whether it's technically
>>> a virus or a trojan
>>
>> Yes it does. It matters very very much indeed. This too is a red herring.
>
> You've cut short my sentence which went on to say the same things are at
> risk such as credentials, bank details etc., regardless of how the
> infection got there.

As I said, *all* computers are vulnerable to social engineering of the
user. Ergo, this is completely irrelevant to any discussion of the
relative vulnerability of Mac, Windows and Linux. If you can con
someone via a clever website or a phone call, then you can do so via
other websites -- the OS they're running doesn't matter.

> There are many attack vectors. Infected media, file sharing etc. Just
> being connected to a network is less of a risk these days because MS
> eventually decided that having a firewall turned on by default is a good
> idea.

True. Windows is /much/ better than it was. However, this requires
immense, constant vigilance by MS. So as soon as a version is no
longer supported, its users really /must/ upgrade, ASAP.

> Yes, but this is becoming more and more prevalent. Much of this is being
> driven by criminals, not script kiddies. The social engineering is
> getting to be quite clever (if you don't know what you are looking for)
> and many users are easily fooled. There is quite a family of bank
> stealing trojans around which are really worrying.

Absolutely.

http://theonion.github.io/blog/2013/05/08/how-the-syrian-electronic-army-hacked-the-onion/

> This all tends to be targeted at Windows, but as the original OP said,
> if Linux starts to take a significant share of the world's computer
> usage, then the criminals will target Linux as well. And if the system
> itself is not vulnerable, they will target the weakest point which,
> unfortunately, is the human being sitting at the keyboard!

Seriously, I think targeting individual OSes is a dying trend, just as
desktop computers are declining. It will be via corporate email
systems and so on, like the Onion one there. The OS doesn't matter.

> I just worry that there is a danger that Linux and Mac OS users get
> complacent (and in my job I have had to inform Mac users that their
> machine is compromised and get the response that this is just not
> possible because I am using a Mac!) and they are 'safe' because they
> don't use Windows. That kind of complacency is misplaced, IMHO.

A fair point, you're absolutely right.

-- 
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