Viruses on Linux

[Shivkumar]

Dear Sirs;

I heard that there are various kinds of viruses which can affect Linux. As we know that Linux is being developed by all vendors like Sun, IBM and HP etc.

Someone told me that Linux Kernel code is known to everyone and hence serious business should not be installed on Linux. It is basically meant to businesses who don't have fund and want to use it for small non-serious business.

Appreciate the suggestions in this regard.

Thanks,
Shiv

[Arunvijai_4]

Hi Shiv,

Linux viruses are very very rare in case. Infact, they are not affecting Linux kernel. Here is a case study from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/06/linux_vs_windows_viruses/
"There are about 60,000 viruses known for Windows, 40 or so for the Macintosh, about 5 for commercial Unix versions, and perhaps 40 for Linux."

Beauty of Linux is its source available to anyone freely, we can modify it accordingly to our mission critical apps to utilize system resources fully and achieve 99.999% uptime. Linux is still growing to maturity.
What you have heard could be from MS folks ;-)

-Arun

[RAC_1]

Linux is GPL (General Public License) operating system. What it means is you can modify the code to suit your requirement, but can not charge for it.

That said, it is very important that you secure it the way you want. It is very poerful operating system and when configured properly it is rock solid. Nowsdays, all major companies are taking a great interest this OS and have big plans for it.

There are some problems like support services, lack of standardisation among differnt linux flavors. But it is chaning.

You can understand it's importance from the fact that MS considers it as a big thread.

[Devender Khatana]

Hi,

It is true that many organizations are working together to develop and modify linux. It is still quite stable and is the next generation of unix. But is still under development.

Due to being based on unix architecture it is still very less effected from viruses. Allthough to be fully protected you need to configure it perfectly.

HTH,
Devender

[morganelan]

I think if everyone can see Linux Kernel code, they can know where the Linux Kernel Holes and try to fix these holes.But otherwise if everyone can not see the code, and only the vendor can, then it depends on vendor to fix the holes.I still amaze why this linux less virus attacks, if we compare it to windows for example, even if linux is open source and windows is close source.

[Bharat Katkar]

"Serious business should not be installed on Linux. It is basically meant to businesses who don't have fund and want to use it for small non-serious business."

Inspite of the facts provided above your part of the statement above still holds true in practical scenario.

Regards,

[Vibhor Kumar Agarwal]

But you won't get easily infected.

If you need to install serious business applications, but use good firewall and you will be perfectly safe.

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi,

my opinion is that the recent versions of linux developed by the vendors you have mentioned are inherently good and can be trusted for SERIOUS business.

If you are concerned about security issues, you have to make sure that your infrastructure is configured accordingly.

Serious business means serious attention be it Linux or Unix or Windows. The base line is the same.

kind regards
yogeeraj

[Joseph Loo]

hi shiv,

this thread talks about a virus in Redhat Linux:

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=423691

there is also some anti-virus for Linux in the market, if u r interested.

regards.

[Raj D. · Accepted solution]

Hi Shiv ,

Its easier to write a Linux virus as its opensource and codes are available to all, and getting popularity,

Here is a good info:

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2116855/linux-lined-virus-target

Cheers,
Raj.

[Alessandro Pilati]

Hi again Shiv.
Being infected by viruses for Linux OS is quite difficult, anyway, as said by other forumers, be protected and have knowdledge about old and new versions of this kind of threat is a good way to go.

Here some links useful for you:

http://librenix.com/?inode=21

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/06/linux_vs_windows_viruses/

In these links, under voice "linux", you can find some known LINUX virus with description:

http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/l.shtml

http://www.realworldlinuxbiz.com/whitepapers/_papers/Sophos.Virus.Risks.pdf

Linux Virus threat list for 2005:
http://www.google.it/search?q=linux+virus&hl=it&lr=&start=30&sa=N

And on www.viruslist.com you can easily find linux viruses/backdoor.

Cheers,
Alessandro

[Steven E. Protter]

http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/enterprise.htm

I believe the thread I created on the subject 3 years ago is already referenced in this thread.

SEP

[Alessandro Pilati]

If you are going to search some good antivirus product, here you can find some of the most popular freeware/shareware/pay antivirus for Linux:

http://www.soft32.com/index.asp?q=antivirus&cat=14&order1=relevance&sort=DESC&download=5

Here some products that have more functions than the simple virus checking:

http://freshmeat.net/search/?q=antivirus&section=projects&x=0&y=0

http://www.kaspersky.com/buyonline.html?chapter=748435

http://www.f-prot.com/products/corporate_users/unix/

regards,
Alex

[dirk dierickx]

Keeping the code closed to customers do not make a product any more secure, witness all the bugs found in Windows or even HPUX, but you can add every OS to the list here.

One of the most secure operating systems available - called: OpenBSD - has its code available on the net. Its security reputation does not seem to be affected by this at all.

Virusses exists, but they do not spread out into the wild, and mostly die a quick death as they have little chance of surviving (also, in corporate use on servers, you will never get infected by a virus on linux). Worms do exists, just like on any platform.

Businesses pick linux because it is a sane choice. Google's infrastructure is based in linux only, they are not a small company and have enough cash to buy what they want.

Just to finish my speech, security is an ongoing process. you need to keep something secure no matter what you are using. Linux is no different, but if you are asking me, i'd say; the effort and costs are less with linux then on windows systems.