startubuntu team mailing list archive

[Jean Austin Rodriguez <zeroseven0183@xxxxxxxxx>]

Indeed a great topic. The openness of the Linux's source code makes it a
little less vulnerable to virus or other forms of malware. I've read an
excellent article about The short life and hard times of a Linux
virus<http://librenix.com/?inode=21>and I think it's worth sharing it
here. Although the article is already
quite old (9 years) still it is relevant.

<http://goog_1762718135>Jean Austin Rodriguez
@JeanAustinR <http://twitter.com/JeanAustinR>
<https://ph.linkedin.com/jadrodriguez>


On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 12:45 AM, Tim Plimpton <plimptm@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I have to chime in here that the semantics of using "malware" vs. "virus"
> and "adware" and "spyware" etc. make a big difference in this conversation.
>
> Generally, Malware is used as the most inclusive term, encompassing any
> sort of software or add-on that has some kind of negative effect on a
> user's system or personal information. It can be as benign as an un-needed
> background process that constantly chews up RAM, as exploiting as a program
> designed to harvest and transmit sensitive personal information, as
> annoying as a rogue security application that blocks basic OS functions
> until you shell out $$ to the publisher in exchange for their "protection",
> or as damaging as a rootkit that completely wrecks the core of a system.
>
> @Ali, I think it would be wise to revise your statement that linux is
> virus-free to something along the lines of "Linux is, by design, well
> protected from malware." That doesn't make it immune to attacks or without
> vulnerabilities.
>
> OS X is UNIX based, and that doesn't stop users from getting "infections"
> on their Macbooks. One time at work, I had to completely wipe and reinstall
> Safari because it was wrecked by a Conduit add-on. How did it get there?
> The user installed it, of course.
>
> The best defense for any Linux or Unix based server system is a
> well-educated system administrator - not the system itself. The same
> applies to desktop systems. But in the personal computing market, most
> people don't sign up to be a system administrator, they merely want to be a
> user.
>
> The myth that the small user-market share of Linux prevents malware from
> spreading is certainly false. It's more likely the fact that Linux users
> (on average) happen to be much more educated about operating systems,
> software and how they can protect themselves from malicious code that puts
> up the line of defense. If I packaged a script to wipe a user's home
> directory and distributed it to un-educated linux users under the guise
> that it would "improve" their system performance, the only missing piece is
> having someone willing to run it (without even needing root access) and it
> would definitely qualify as malware.
>
> This is a great topic to discuss here!
>
> -Tim
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 8:58 AM, Marcello Tescari <
> marcello.tescari@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 2:47 PM, Ali Linx (amjjawad) <amjjawad@xxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 4:37 PM, Marcello Tescari
>> > <marcello.tescari@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> On Jan 4, 2014 1:21 PM, "Ali Linx (amjjawad)" <amjjawad@xxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 4:18 PM, Marcello Tescari
>> >>> <marcello.tescari@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On Jan 4, 2014 1:13 PM, "Ali Linx (amjjawad)" <amjjawad@xxxxxxxxx>
>> >>>> wrote:
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> > Hi,
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> > http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2197530
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> > What do you think? :)
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> > Thank you!
>> >>>> >
>> >>>> >
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I never experienced myself malware on a linux machine but some of my
>> >>>> kubunters managed to get some malware in their browser such as those
>> >>>> changing homepage, search engines or filling them with suspicious
>> toolbars
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Marcello
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Hi,
>> >>>
>> >>> You always forget to hit reply to All :P never mind :)
>> >>>
>> >>> Same here. I have never ever seen that for 3 years nor heard anyone
>> had
>> >>> such thing. This might be the first time I hear/read such a thing.
>> Although
>> >>> I am not sure, it seems that user had done something like visiting
>> weird
>> >>> websites? correct me please if I am wrong.
>> >>>
>> >>> Thank you!
>> >>>
>> >> Hi again, sorry for the Reply "not to all" but it's something I usually
>> >> mistake when replying from phone.
>> >
>> >
>> > Hi and No worries :)
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >>
>> >> As I said,  I never experienced,
>> >
>> >
>> > Same here :)
>> >
>> >
>> >>
>> >> but I also never experienced Virus or whatever neither when using
>> windows
>> >> and I was also sometimes visiting weird websites.
>> >
>> >
>> > The 16 machines for my neighbors that I converted to Linux in 3 months,
>> > maybe half of these were infected with viruses and the rest were
>> semi-dead.
>> > For me? I've been with Windows since 1999 and I am not quite sure if I
>> ever
>> > had a virus on my own machine? but I am 100% sure I have seen so many
>> virus
>> > alert on my machine and others' people machines.
>> >
>> >
>> >>
>> >> I think it's just a matter of not clicking on "click here" banners or
>> >> similar
>> >> That happened to three or four people so far in about 20 that I know
>> are
>> >> my "kubunters".
>> >
>> >
>> > Yeah, and that proves the theory of: "Be Careful Whenever You Are Using
>> The
>> > Internet and Do Not Click on Anything Unless You Know What Are You
>> Doing."
>> > but IMHO, the OS you are using is still does matter whether it will help
>> > that virus or whatever it is to spread itself or can't even be run.
>> >
>> >
>> >>
>> >> Two of them being my sister and my girlfriend so I doubt they visited
>> >> weird websites, but sometimes while trying to download some software,
>> they
>> >> also downladed toolbars and similar stuff (even sourceforge has a lot
>> of
>> >> download this and download that links, just to make an example) as
>> they are
>> >> not expert users.
>> >
>> >
>> > Why would they download anything 'directly' from the website? the idea
>> of
>> > having Synaptic or Software Manager installed by default with Ubuntu
>> and its
>> > official variants is to actually keep everyone safe. With Linux, you
>> don't
>> > really need to go to any Website to install anything.
>>
>>
>> Mainly for 2 reasons:
>>
>> 90% of software you can download from repositories throu synaptic,
>> muon or whatever, but some free software is distributed normally (in a
>> windows way). It's not relevant to sourceforge, but I had to download
>> drafsight from the own website, I had to instal kmid by downloading
>> sources for at least the last 5 versions of kubuntu (i know there are
>> alternatives but I tried and didn't like them), same for updated HP,
>> Canon, Epson or Brothers Printer drivers which are usually distributed
>> from their websites in deb or rpm.
>> I don't say that all programs are downloaded directly but some
>> unfortunately should be.
>> And I even saw people using linux to download warez for windows or for
>> some proprietary software available for linux (or through wine)... but
>> that's not the case of the mentioned people
>>
>>
>> >>
>> >> Even though, if you download and install them for mistake in linux, you
>> >> can just remove them from the browser or delete the .nameofthebrowser
>> folder
>> >> from the home directory... in Windows you need to scan the register and
>> >> sometimes the whole system gets harmed
>> >>
>> >
>> > Not to mention you might need to re-install or format when it comes to
>> > Windows :D
>> >
>>
>> Indeed!
>> >
>> >>
>> >> Marcello Tescari
>> >
>> >
>> > Thank you!
>> >
>> > --
>> > Remember: "All of us are smarter than any one of us."
>> > Best Regards,
>> > amjjawad
>> > Areas of Involvement
>> > My Projects
>>
>> --
>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~startubuntu
>> Post to     : startubuntu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~startubuntu
>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>
>
>
> --
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~startubuntu
> Post to     : startubuntu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~startubuntu
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>
>