Originally Posted by mq15
I don't know much about linux and its distributions. Please tell me does not linux need antivirus softwares? Why? Someone one on orkut.com
told me once that there is no/less virus threats to linux as compared to Windows.
And they would know, naturally.
If you check the AV software sites, you'll find they list only dozens of low-risk linux viruses/threats compared with millions of windows ones. This should give you a hint.
Why GNU/Linux Viruses are Fairly Uncommon
Interestingly there is (right now) a zero-day exploit for 2.6.30 kernels
However, these things are pretty rare. Usually vulnerabilities get detected and patched before an active exploit exists. The exploits are usually so obscure that it takes an academic researcher to spot them. In this case, the [i]code] itself is fine, and it is optimisations in the compiler
which introduce loophole making the exploit possible.
In almost all recent cases, you need to allow access for the exploit to work. If you do not allow remote logins you aught to be fine. In other words - AV software won't help.
Usually, windows users like to claim that linux is just as vulnerable
than windows - with the lack of actual malware being attributed to linuxes perceivel low market penetration. However, there is no increase in linux-targeted malware in those markets where linux does have high penitration - like web servers and search engines.
The real reason there is so little malware for linux is that, even if it works, it so hard to get it on to the machine, and so hard to do anything once it is installed.
The gripping hand, though, is that all systems are vulnerable to user stupidity. Running linux does not mean that you can browse with impunity. There is plenty of malware which can run in your browser.
The main concern is not so much that a bad guy can peek at the content of your HDD - it's more that they will attempt to harness your processing power and bandwidth to a botnet. Then they use your computer to go after a target they actually care about.
Windows itself has sometimes been mistaken for a virus
however, if you follow a simple checklist it is easy to distinguish the difference:
1. replicate quickly
2. use up excess system resourses, slowing the desired process as they do
3. usually carried, unknown to the user, along with valuable programs and systemsurces,
4. will occasionally make the user suspect their system is too slow (see 2) and the user will buy new hardware
5. are designed to work for the creator at the expense of the owner of the computer
6. are well supported by their authors
7. program code is fast, compact and efficient
8. tend to become more sophisticated as they mature.
9. are not advertised in glossy magazines
10. have a whole industry dedicated to their removal
So you see... windows is not a virus.