[muglo] Re: *nix (OS X, GNU/Linux, BSD) virus resistence
- From: Bill West <billwest@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: muglo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2005 12:57:35 -0800
On Feb 8, 2005, at 12:01 PM, Eric Dunbar kindly advised:
> An interesting read:
>
> <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/06/linux_vs_windows_viruses/>
Excellent. tremendous article...
Security is, as we all know, a process, not a product. So when you use
Linux, you're not using a perfectly safe OS. There is no such thing.
But Linux and Mac OS X establish a more secure footing than Microsoft
Windows, one that makes it far harder for viruses to take hold in the
first place, but if one does take hold, harder to damage the system,
but if one succeeds in damaging the system, harder to spread to other
machines and repeat the process. When it comes to email-borne viruses
and worms, Linux may not be completely immune - after all, nothing is
immune to human gullibility and stupidity - but it is much more
resistant. To mess up a Linux box, you need to work at it; to mess up
your Windows box, you just need to work on it. I know which one I'll
trust. How about you?
>
> PS They have a scathing indictment of Lindows' security :(
>
> Eric.
Thank you, I've picked up hints that Lindows is less protected than it
should be. OS CD and new big HD were only $200 new --all hardware Linux
compatible. And a year free membership to it's excellent Warehouse of
apps. Problem is Lindows app warehouse wouldn't recognize my membership
--a lot. And annual $100 payment is coming up. But Linspire totally
works on my Microtel desktop.
I ordered a http://www.ubuntu.com/ free installing CD. Hope they are
still shipping. :)
Some caveats
There is one Linux distribution that is ignoring many years of common
sense, good design, and an awareness of secure operating environments
in favor of a Microsoft-like deprecation of security before the
nebulous term "ease of use": Lindows. By default, Lindows runs the user
of the system as root (and it even encourages the user to forgo setting
up a root password during installation by labeling it as "optional"!),
an unbelievably shortsighted decision that results in a Linux box with
the same security as a Windows 9.x machine.
If you go to the Lindows Web site, they state that it is possible to
add other, non-privileged users, but nowhere in the operating system do
they advocate adding these other users. Yet they claim their
distribution of Linux is secure! In an effort to emulate Microsoft and
make things "easy", they have compromised the security of their users,
an unforgivable action. No one in the field of security, or even IT,
can recommend Lindows while such a blatant disregard for security is
the norm for the OS.
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