Re: [vox-tech] Linux/Windows virus
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: [vox-tech] Linux/Windows virus
Thanx for the input. I tried searching for more info and feedback on
google and altavista, but I couldn't find anything, so I thought I'd throw
it up for discussion.
On Tue, 3 Apr 2001, Micah Cowan wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 03, 2001 at 01:21:23AM -0700, Foo Lim wrote:
> > Yeah, I'm replying to my own post...
> >
> > This was just a heads-up or public service announcement. It's as
> > dangerous as other infectious digital organism when you're talking about
> > open source software, IMO.
> >
> > FL
> >
> > On Tue, 3 Apr 2001, Foo Lim wrote:
> >
> > > http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20010402S0004
> > > http://www.avx.com/winux.html
> > >
> > > Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. So will antivirus software
> > > start showing up on freshmeat.net or will people actually look over the
> > > code they download from now on? There still is a safety net with file
> > > permissions, but if you install this virus as root, there's potential for
> > > getting screwed royally.
> > >
> > > FL
>
> This was in slashdot a week ago.
>
> http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/03/28/1357253&mode=thread
>
> It isn't nearly what it looks like - the Linux side of it is more of a
> trojan than a virus - in order for it to infect your computer, you
> first have to acquire an infected binary, and then run it (and then it
> still only has that user's priveleges).
>
> Raise your hand if you'd be stupid enough to run an unknown executable
> as root?
>
> Just because it exists doesn't mean it is effective. It has probably
> a 1% chance of actually propogating from one host to another, which
> means that it really isn't alive.
>
> As the slashdot article poster, timothy, notes: "this is anything but
> an "equal opportunity" virus, except in that it seems to infect
> multiple media sources without discrimination. When was the last time
> you ran unknown programs (as root) on your machine, then manually
> copied them (and ran as root) on another machine as well?"
>
> Micah
>
|
