Why Linux Will Never Suffer From Viruses Like Windows

i agree it's amazing how much work faronics saves me. i also bought copies for my parents computers. Instead of going to "mom and dads" house only to fix computers, we can totally sit back and have a nice bbq instead.

As it has been pointed out, the main question is: "Is open source software more secure than closed source software?". I believe it is, therefore, open source operating systems will be more secure than closed source operating systems. If, say, Skype has some serious vulnerability, it could affect both Windows and Linux, so, yeah, Linux could potentially have security problems caused by closed source apps, just like Windows does. If you believe there is no difference in security between open source and closed source, then we will agree to disagree. :)

Linux does have some security advantages "by design", but that's another story. Anyway, I've never had security problems with Linux (as far as I know), but on Windows I did have some viruses, spyware and other malware, although I've used Linux for a longer time. You may say that I was at fault for that, that may be so, but I do have more computer knowledge than the average Joe, therefore, the average Joe would be far safer on Linux than on Windows, and I think most people would agree with me on this one, the reasons don't really matter, be it market share, open source or good design.

"Is open source software more secure than closed source software?".

Depends by what you are referring to by either... There are examples of Open Source with lousy security and there are Closed software that's also very secure.

Like Android is a very vulnerable platform that doesn't utilize all of the default security that is normally seen with GNU/Linux.

Though it can be said that Android is not entirely Open Source but goes to the point that it's not the difference between Open and Closed that determine whether a system is secure but rather how the software is setup that determines level of security.

By and large, Linux does have pretty good defaults and as long as developers actually use those defaults then it's pretty good security. However, those defaults only make them a little more secure than many other alternatives. Systems can be made even more secure and often should be.

While any system that lets the user modify it is open to user error and users being tricked. It's just a question of how likely the user will be tricked and whether the user is in a position to be tasked more or less often than other users.

Thus the discrepancy in opinions...

So why are you running on IIS ?

BIOS -> no USB boot = Be a great admin

double post -with quote is better-

wanderson@nac.net:

Apache versus Microsoft IIS HTTP Servers. While Apache occupies approximately 68 - 72 % of Web servers (worldwide) as compared to approximatel 17% for IIS, the Microsoft product still registers significantly more vulnerabilities and actual intrusions than Apache, accoding to Cert.org, Threatpost.com and other security watch organizations.

Apache is covering 3/4 of the "market" ? Remember what OS does the same and what you think about it ?

The best vulnerability I know is called slowloris, so fun it works 68 - 72% of the time you attack a website...

>Linux has some good defaults but it still requires a good setup and careful users.

My 8yr old installed Linux on his computer this week clicking Enter about a dozen times.

Really not hard to setup..

Careful users?

I call BS on this. If anything, you have to be more careful on Windows.

Granted, use Linux for a while and you become a little cocky. My dad watches sports on Rojadirecta when he is at home using Linux and used it at a friends place one day and within a few mins, that Windows machine was infested.

Had he been using Windows, i would have warned him that hackerz, warez, live feeds. *** sites are high risk...

I have 4 kids running Linux including my sisters and inlaws kids thats 13 kids from 5 to 16yrs old. Careful kids you say?

I have Linux running on many friends and family's computers who always asked me for help since I 'know computers' (telling them I write Perl and Python and dont know user infterfaces is useless) and most of the time it was the same old song and dance. with infested computers.

Counting inlaws-parents-aunts,etc, thats 14 senior citizens using Linux of which more than half never touched a computer before.

Careful users? Dont make me laugh.

I just went through the 10.04 to 12.04LTS upgrade this summer for my family that uses Kubuntu and its been smooth.

The past 4 years of switching all these people (some have dual boots or Virtualbox for work stuff) has meant that my free tech support has diminished by 90%. heck, I use KRDC most times and dont even seen them when there is something that comes up...

And btw, my wife works as project manager for a design company so she uses Photoshop at home (Win7 running through Virtuabox) and is one of the rare people I know that actually NEEDS it for work or that has a legal copy of it.

Its a question system admnistrators always talk about when chatting about what people download at work "How many people have Photoshop and paid for it / or need it?".

My eldest went to Prek years ago and half the mommies used Photoshop. Not well might I add (nightmares of

embossed and lens flare). None paid for it. People think they need it because thats the only thing they have ever heard.

Let's face it, there is barely anyone in our IT department that DOESNT have it. Same at where friends work.

Then ask how many people need it for work or paid for it and you will see that even though the world is full of graphic artists or 'web designers', the majority of those people havent shelled a grand for Photoshop.

There isnt a huge throng of geeks out there looking to get a version of Autocad but tons of people who see themselves as artists who think that the only thing thats stopping them from creating images or movies is their access to the top of

the top of software.

Someone broke into NY Rep. Michael Grimm's HQ and installed Linux on the computers. Wow

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  -- An overnight intruder smashed several windows and gained entry into Rep. Michael Grimm's New Dorp headquarters over the weekend, possibly tampering with computers inside the office, authorities said.

Grimm's staff discovered the damage Sunday morning -- two large chunks of cement and some smaller rocks had been hurled through three, 4x8-foot vertical windows, according to a campaign spokeswoman. They also believed that someone had deleted computer hard drives. The congressman and his campaign staff believe the vandalism was staged to cover up the computer tampering.

On further inspection it was determined the intruder had caused a different type of damage -- someone installed the Linux operating system on the office's computers, Grimm told the Advance Sunday night, and in the process wiped the hard drives clean. "All of my polling data, all of the data from my IDs of voters, and a bunch of other campaign information. But fortunately we had everything backed up from literally hours before, so we don't lose anything because we have backups," Grimm said. 

Excellent post, A Dent - your description parallels my own (limited) experience in installing Linux (Ubuntu) on the computers of the retirees I often help. I usually have no problem convincing them to install and try Firefox and/or Chrome alongside the pre-installed IE, and the vast majority seem to prefer these browsers and to stick with one of them. But I've found suggesting a non-legacy operating system far more difficult ; generally speaking I refrain from doing so. In a few cases, however, I've lent refurbished older computers on which I've installed Ubuntu to members of our organisation ; these users have universally found it easy to operate and I've noticed that they have required much less follow-up help than their coevals using various versions of Windows....

Henri

The Congressman put this "politically-motivated" spin on the story because he's been under an ongoing investigation by the FBI.

The vandalism was done by a pair of 8th graders who have since confessed.

The installation of Linux was done by the congressman's own IT staffer to test the hardware, as the Windows installation had corrupted itself.

http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/wnyc-news-blog/2012/sep/26/rep-grimm-backtracks-claims-vandalism-was-politically-motivated/

3vi1:

The Congressman put this "politically-motivated" spin on the story because he's been under an ongoing investigation by the FBI.

The vandalism was done by a pair of 8th graders who have since confessed.

The installation of Linux was done by the congressman's own IT staffer to test the hardware, as the Windows installation had corrupted itself.

LOL!

"BIOS -> no USB boot = Be a great admin"

Great? Not the most stupid maybe.

Kid: Boot normal Windows (restricted access) -> run BIOS password tool -> go into bios -> change settings -> boot whatever he wants -> even change the installed windows os

You might say it's not that easy. Fact is, when I was in school, I did exactly that. I managed to install _a webserver_ on one of the computers, that was accessible within the whole school network.

And there were all those usual things like bios passwords, restricted accounts and stuff like that. It was comparably easy still. ;-)

I must admit that before that, the school PCs had these fancy hardware-cards that did not really write anything permanently on hard-drive, so always when you restarted, the computer was clean again. We did not find a way around these. Except using a screwdriver, opening the case and removing the card ;-)

A good physical case could probably avoid that to some extent.

crazy4chrissi:

"BIOS -> no USB boot = Be a great admin"

Great? Not the most stupid maybe.

Kid: Boot normal Windows (restricted access) -> run BIOS password tool -> go into bios -> change settings -> boot whatever he wants -> even change the installed windows os

You might say it's not that easy. Fact is, when I was in school, I did exactly that. I managed to install _a webserver_ on one of the computers, that was accessible within the whole school network.

And there were all those usual things like bios passwords, restricted accounts and stuff like that. It was comparably easy still. ;-)

I must admit that before that, the school PCs had these fancy hardware-cards that did not really write anything permanently on hard-drive, so always when you restarted, the computer was clean again. We did not find a way around these. Except using a screwdriver, opening the case and removing the card ;-)

A good physical case could probably avoid that to some extent.

Selection pressures seem to have made us the most ingenious of animals - great story !...

Henri

Hello,

Can you name ANY bios tool that doesn't require you to type the previous password before doing any change ?

Anyway, let's pretend it's possible, H4xx0r kiddie has to logon on your machine, you have a trace of who did it (or at least who let someone do it by giving his password).

Be a great computer admin, no unauthenticated logins.

(please let's continue this)

Au contraire, MadPhil. I know for a fact my school logs logins in an SQL database. With one user account. From a VBS script. *tap tap tap*... 'oops' just wiped everyone's login history.

MadPhil:

Can you name ANY bios tool that doesn't require you to type the previous password before doing any change ?

Yup, the BIOS Reset Jumper on the motherboard does that quite handily.

JDiaz:

As there will always be rabid Linux skeptics.

Like pointing out servers are far less often targets than individual users and of course the obvious differences between server and consumer desktop software makes such comparisons obviously one sided.

Also, not all servers are set up with just the defaults and not all servers are equal targets or even equally maintained.

Not to mention ignoring that vulnerabilities like open ports, whether the systems are running anything legacy related, etc are things to watch out for regardless of what OS is running.

Having good or better defaults is just a good start, but with the ever increasing number of attacks security should be improved regardless of what level it's at. As no system is perfect and every security setup can be improved from its defaults.

Whether another OS is more vulnerable should never be the measure of satisfactory security! Unless you're only point is trash another OS in which case you're not talking about security but bragging rights!

Damn, well said.