antiviruses for linux coming soon

[ajit]

well we all normally think that while using linux we don't need antivirus software !why--because there isn't any antivirus software for linux in market .but not too long ,there will be many (i guess)in a while .yes Currently there are under 100 native Linux viruses known
( http://zone-h.org/en/news/read/id=2567/ ) it appears that top virus writers have been working on linux security and they have been trying to create some viruses for linux OS they have succeded in their objective to an extant.These viruses may not infect the Linux computer but the user can easily attach and send these infected documents unknowingly to someone else and that is a serious problem.and still it is a nice starting point for virus writers and antivirus software developers.
THE RACE IS ONE!!!

[er0k]

heh give em about a week, just another day in the office patching.

[sforce]

i think the number of known viruses is more then 100 for linux anyway it is a good link thanks and u are right that RACE IS ON it appears that every virus writer wants to create a virus for linux both the parties are involved in a long race if u find any source code of virus program (linux)than please make an attachment here

[King of CaveMen]

Ehh over 100 viruses for linux, I mainly use Windows, (its a must) but do us eLinux, and wasn't under the impression you wouldn't have to worry about Viruses.

[SirDice]

There are some virusses for linux. Maybe even about 100. Compare that to the 40000+ for windows. What all linux virusses lack is the infectionratio of a good windows virus. Why is that you wonder? Basicly every linux user knows s/he should not do their daily stuff as root. This also means a virus running on a regular useraccount cannot be as destructive as its windows counterpart. Nearly all the home users have accounts with administrator privileges (on 2K/XP). On windows you also know what the basic configuration will be. You know there's going to be an Outlook (express) and an Internet Explorer. On linux this assumption doesn't work. You just do not know what kind of email client and/or browser the user will be running. This makes it alot more difficult to write a virus that runs on every distro, be destructive and/or has the ability to spread to other computers.

edit: There are linux virusscanners (I use Mcafee on Freebsd) but they mainly scan for windows virusses. Go figure?!?

[instronics]

Why has noone on this thread mentioned anything about responsibililty!!!!

While it is true that there are no serious virii for linux, its the responsibility you have towards the rest of the computer community to have an AV running. Imagine if you forward a file or mail which could be infected. Its not only about the security of your local computers, but also the security towards the outside. Never forget that.

Cheers.

[the_JinX]

I agree Instronics,

And to get back to the linux virii..

With all them people downloading binaries (rpm's and stuff) from sites with disputable credentials, I think it's more then obvious I might even say inevitable that pretty soon more and more virii for the linux enviroment might pop-up..

Linux used to be all about the source, but more and more people use "out of the box linux solutions" and people using linux know (and want to know, wich is even more important) little about the processes and files..

The big disadvantage linux and unix have for virus writers is diversity..
There are realy 3 different kinds of Windows (3.x , 9.x and NT) and there are millions of different linux/unix setups..
Most windows binaries will run on any windows system.. Most linux/unix binaries are system dependant as hell..

I'm not saying that it is hard to write a linux virus though.. It's just harder to wirte a good (as in love-letter good) virus for the GNU platforms..

[bballad]

On one side most of those 100 Linux viri are actually Trojans that require some one with privileged access to run them. On top of that, most will only affect the user who ran the code and not infect the system as a whole unless some dope runs them as root.

In saying that a Linux antivirus is a good idea, in fact there are a few that have been on the market for years. Mostly you use these to scan binaries in ftp archives and email for viri but they also look for the *nix viri and clean out most rootkits.

[slarty]

I believe that antivirus software for Linux is very important - particularly if you're using Linux boxes as Windows fileservers.

Although largely immune, Linux boxes can definitely harbour Windows viruses, which is very important for anyone who has Windows boxes on their network, or sends email to/from Windows users, or exchanges documents with Windows users (i.e. everyone)

because there isn't any antivirus software for linux in market

This obviously untrue and has been for at least three years. Many of the major AV companies supply Linux versions, most of them have done so for quite a while.

[vvirtho]

Panda, PC-cillin and Bit Defender all have Linux AV software and it is a FREE utility. Of course, like all good things, I'm sure this too will come to an end . . . but for now . . . ENJOY.

V.