And another Ubuntu convert!

[kirk abbott]

> > I take it
> > none of you have been watching the increase in malware
> on OSX?  
> 
> More to the point, none of us care.

OSX is in the position of being a unified operating system. Hence easier to target. Linux will be a bit harder.

> > As
> > Windows market share drops, and OSX share increases
> the malware authors
> > see that they need to diversify their efforts.  At
> some point Windows
> > won't be the ONLY THING(TM).  Therefore, as linux
> becomes more popular
> > (and Ubuntu is a big part of that), malware authors
> will begin turning
> > their attention to it.
> 
> Why? When? How?  Really, Linux is never going to be the #1
> desktop OS (even 
> if you add all the distros together).
> > 
> > This is why AV is important.  This is why you need to
> worry NOW. Not
> > later.
> 
> I'm 100% in agreement with iodine - never met an AV
> program yet that is 
> better than practising safe web-browsing.
> > 
> > I swear this 'it can't happen to me'
> attitude just blows my mind.  Just
> > because it hasn't yet doesn't mean it
> won't.
> 

It has happened and it didn't a big impact, simply because things don't distribute that easily. There are several hurdles that have to be breached that don't exist with the other operating systems.

The first hurdle is understanding which distribution is being targeted. One of the items that I have run into, is that it is not a given that an Application available on one distro will work on another. While an advanced user can probably recompile the source on the desired distro, the average user is liable to be clueless about it.

The second hurdle is the distribution system. Unlike Windows and OSX, in Linux, most of us are getting our apps via official or otherwise known repositories rather than through third party sites. So most of us are going to be getting stuff that has already been vetted by someone in a position of trust. And anybody violating that trust will get a fast heave ho.

There are other factors, but those are the main ones. 

Kirk