dannn

Is it true that linux does not need antivirus or spyware protection, and if so, how is this possible?

coopstah13

I've been using linux for years and have never used antivirus. Nearly all spyware and virii are windows executables, which cannot natively run on linux. Even if you are to run them in wine, the worst thing that would happen is they take over your wine folder. Even if you got a virus made for linux, you would have to run it, and worst case running it as your own user your home directory will be fried. If you ran it as root or with sudo, then it would be able to do more, but this is why you don't run as root.

reed9

The biggest danger for linux is social engineering, ie, tricking the end user into running something dangerous or with root privileges.

Here is a description of how to go about writing a simple malware program that can easily hit inexperienced linux users.
How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps

This is mostly a problem if you're running GNOME or KDE - I'm not sure if the way these desktop environments have changed their default behavior to prevent this sort of exploit. But, the article also describes some of difficulty in writing malware that can become widespread, in part because of the diversity of linux.

And an amusing tail of someone running a virus in WINE, just because he can.
I Can Haz Virus

Point is, security is something the user needs to take some responsibility for. It's possible someone can crack your system, but the most likely scenario involves the user doing something silly, like running an unknown script they got somewhere on the internet, or blindly clicking a popup asking for admin privileges.

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grishi_111

i think both of above should have solved your problem.
if you didn't search linuxforums.org/forums for your query, just have a look
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/lin...-security.html

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dannn

Thanks this is very helpful - sorry I should have looked more carefully.

reed9

Just a note on firewalls, if you're using a router, it almost certainly has one build in. Some discussion on that: Arch Linux Forums / iptables not popular?

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dannn

On Vista I use Eset Nod32 as a firewall. The router is not configured as a firewall. I guess I need to configure it then? Hmmmmmmm

reed9

Actually, just by it's nature, the router functions as a de facto firewall. You don't normally have to do much of anything, unless you require port forwarding. Or, if you don't absolutely trust all of the computer on LAN.

Does my router have a firewall or not?

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dannn

thanks I didn't know that, I thought it needed to be configured, scrupulously.