[plug] Linux Viruses

[James Devenish]

In message <Pine.LNX.4.44.0303011833070.848-100000 at soulasylum.penguincare.com.au>
on Sat, Mar 01, 2003 at 06:38:56PM +0800, Matt Kemner wrote:
> > it to be, a viral message, and, whether it is a virus for Linux?
[...]
> whether or not it is a virus, let alone a "linux virus", however from your

In message <F118J2fm61066rUeaut0002ed4a at hotmail.com>
on Sat, Mar 01, 2003 at 11:16:01AM +0000, Psyphen Codewalker wrote:
> Are viruses for Linux really that common?
> I mean...this is the first time I've actually
> heard of anything regarding a Linux virus.

It's interesting (?!) to note a subtle difference in the face value of
the phrases "virus for Linux" and "Linux virus". While operating systems
such as as Microsoft's Windows and Apple's Mac OS are very
"mono-platform", GNU/Linux and UNIX operating systems occur across a
broad range of hardware and people may entirely different windowing
environments, mail clients, command-line tools, etc. So "Linux viruses",
worms, and security flaws are largely limited to an individual kernel
platform or an individual 'third-party' product. When Windows advocates
talk about "bugs in Linux", they are usually referring to bugs in
thousands and thousands of different software packages (most of which
are not Linux per se). Likewise, security failures and viruses affecting
those packages are hardly "Linux flaws", even though though the flawed
software is "for Linux". Most likely, the software is also for UNIX or
VMS, etc. So, are "Linux viruses" common? Hardly. Are there "security
flaws and worms for software that runs on GNU/Linux with Intel
hardware". Sure. But most are addressed quickly and the updates/patches
can be quickly and safely propagated to installed Linux systems. There
have been events that have demonstrated wide-spread propagation of worms
through POSIX-like systems but that is most often (these days)
associated with significantly old or unmaintined software. More of a
common worry are 'break in' or 'denial of service' type problems.

Having said all that, it's still hard to avoid saying phrases like
"Linux problems" when actually referring to "third-party" software
that is simply very common on Linux systems :)