[AntiVirus + Ubuntu] was - Re: And another Ubuntu convert!

[Rashkae]

Smoot Carl-Mitchell wrote:

> Creating vectors for the spread of malware seems to be the main threat
> these days.  To go back to the disease metaphor, running AV on a desktop
> Linux box might be the equivalent of a young healthy person getting a
> flu shot. The risk of side effects from the shot may be greater than the
> benefit.  However, if the young person spends a lot of time with his
> grandmother, then it may be worthwhile for that young person to get a
> flu shot to protect her grandmother who is in a high risk group. Think
> Windows desktops served by a Linux mail server.
> 
> So whether you run AV software comes down to a risk assessment.  In the
> aggregate, I think the current Linux desktop user community is probably
> in a low risk group.  That could change as desktop Linux becomes more
> popular with less sophisticated users.

The nice thing about Linux is that it's really hard for the less
sophisticated users to aquire and execute malware.  Unlike windows
world, there is no click/install executables that you can aquire from
untrusted sources.

The big big, and I think, in retrospect, unfortunate exception to this
is Firefox extensions.  Firefox will gleefully install extensions, that
can and are starting to be malicious, with nothing more than a click
through warning.  (and if experience in this field has taught me
anything, click through, even password through ala sudo, provides very
little protection from the less sophisticated user.)