[kwlug-disc] Linus viruses

[Insurance Squared Inc.]

I don't think there's a need to get that specific.

I have a linux desktop, had one for something like 5-10 years.  I take 
no specific security precautions, run no virus scanner, and have never 
had an issue with external intrusions or compromises.

Try the same thing with a windows desktop.  My mother's computer was 
filthy with viruses and hacks until I got her on to linux.  All I did 
was do a default install, give her the machine, and no further issues.  
My point was, linux desktops don't get compromised ever.  Not rarely - 
ever.  I've never had it happen, and nobody on this list even knows 
anybody that it's ever happened to. that's the point I was curious about 
- could it happen in some remote possibility?  Apparently not.

It's been argued back and forth 'why' many times.  But the end result 
is, linux as a desktop has got to be the safest desktop available in 
terms of being compromised.

Webservers are an entirely different matter.  Even still, almost all the 
hacks that happen on webservers that I've ever seen have nothing to do 
with linux and not even anything to do with the services - it's a 
problem with the web apps that allow hackers in.  My webserver has been 
compromised a number of times.  All times but one they were a mysql 
injection from poorly written code.  The second time was an email form 
problem that allowed population of the 'to' field, again from a poorly 
written app.



On 27/07/10 07:35 PM, unsolicited wrote:
> Insurance Squared Inc. wrote, On 07/27/2010 7:10 PM:
>> On another thread on this list, someone wrote:
>> Time and time again we are seeing that even with the protections in 
>> place, JavaScript ends up doing more harm than good. Many of the 
>> problems would simple not exist if JavaScript were not there.
>>
>> I call foul :).  I'm on the interwebs pushing the 'any' key all day 
>> long on my linux desktop and I have 0 security issues with Java - Or 
>> anything else for that matter.  So I pose the following questions:
>>
>> 1) have you ever had your linux desktop hacked?  Or any type of 
>> security breach?
>
> I think, in the context of the thread you're referring to, your 
> 'premise' isn't quite reasonable.
>
> 'Hacked', I think, is another one of those terms, like 'nefarious', 
> that means different things to different people.
>
> If, instead of 'hacked', you substituted 'unintended, unwanted, or 
> unanticipated behaviour', then these (my) comments don't apply.
>
> If such a substitution were made, and in the context of the 
> originating thread, then I cannot imagine the answers not being 
> overwhelmingly: YES, darn it!
>
> Page referrals, refreshes, redirections, pictures, spam, and the list 
> probably goes on far longer than what any of us would like.
>
> In these senses, I think 'nefarious' behaviour is platform agnostic.
>
> Sadly.
>
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