[plug] Security and Privacy.

[Christian]

On Sat, Dec 23, 2000 at 10:34:49PM +0800, Scott wrote:
 
> After reading a article called Linux Entomology from  Maximum Linux. It
> seems that some Linux viruses are transmitted from scripting languages.
> Also
> " At least as early as 1991, it was shown that a document written in Tex, a
> UNIX typesetting format, could contain viruses. Postscript can be used
> similarly. .... In fact, a virus that infects manpages- the original UNIX
> help files- was posted to a UNIX mailing list."

This is all true but, by default, none of these programs will allow
these malicious things to happen.  The risk is thus extremely small.

> Buffer overflows are also a problem eg a mp3 a "poorly designed player"
> could inadvertantly execute code hidden inside a MP3 song.

And this is different from Windows how?

> "Linux systems are also vulnerable to the same boot sector viruses that
> plague the windows world. To some degree, Linux may ironically be less
> vulnerable to these because Linux users tend to leave their computers
> running, rebooting only occasionally ."

Huh?  Boot sector viruses would need root access to propagate.  When
root access is available, viruses are the least of your worries.  The
comment about Linux users rebooting occasionally shows that the author
of the article doesn't really know what he/she is talking about.
Needless to say any access to a Windows system is root access so these
viruses will probably never come close to affecting Linux the way they
affect Windows.

<aimless rant cut>

> Privacy is the only real security measure.

What nonsense.  Privacy isn't a security measure in any meaning of the
word.  Privacy is generally not even considered a security issue.  Also,
most people don't care all that much about their privacy and are more
than happy to sacrifice it for something else of value.  For example,
credit cards, EFTPOS, frequent flyer points, fly buys, etc. etc. etc.
Chances are most people will be more than happy to give up their
privacy in exchange for 1/100000 of a trip to Bali.