Author Topic: How useful is anti-virus in Linux?  (Read 1364 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline FreewheelinFrank

  • Avast Evangelist
  • Ultra Poster
  • ***
  • Posts: 4872
  • I'm a GNU
    • Don't Surf in the Nude!
How useful is anti-virus in Linux?
« on: July 22, 2010, 06:12:12 AM »
Recently there was a story about malware in a Linux distro, with Ed Bott claiming that the story proved that Linux users need anti-virus programs just like Windows users.

http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=19387.msg513495#msg513495

I've gone back and looked at the malware concerned and found that anti-virus programs didn't detect the malware for the seven months it was in the Linux repository, and only 4/41 anti-virus programs detect it now, more than a month later.

http://dontsurfinthenude.blogspot.com/2010/07/in-part-1-i-wrote-about-linux-malware.html

A similar story about malware on gnome-look.org has similar findings.

http://dontsurfinthenude.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-useful-is-anti-virus-in-linux-part.html

Caution in where to install packages from in Linux will protect users from malware, where anti-virus programs won't.
     Bambleweeny 57 sub-meson brain     Don't Surf in the Nude Blog