Screensaver takes too much time to fade-out...

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Thu, 2011-12-15 at 13:21 -0800, Joe Zeff wrote:
> On 12/15/2011 01:06 PM, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > They're usually libraries and may be cross-platform, e.g. the mplayer
> > non-free codecs are designed for Windows but work in Linux as well.
> 
> I see.  Thank you.  However, considering the differences between the two 
> environments, especially the differences in how security is implemented, 
> would malware designed for Windows be able to do any damage on a Linux 
> system?

Malware usually has to be finely tuned to the host environment, e.g.
mess with Windows Registry (Linux doesn't have one as such), install a
boot sector (needs root), override the user's PATH (won't affect
anything outside the executable and its children) etc. Altering the
user's environment requires knowledge of where the files are and what's
in them, and this is completely different on Linux and Windows. Of
course a Trojan could be designed to do all of these, but you're
basically in the same position as anyone running a downloaded executable
that hasn't been certified by someone you trust.

> (I can see how it could phone home and/or download a payload, 
> but could it cause any permanent damage to anything other than the 
> user's own files?)

Not unless it's running as root.

> I've been telling people that Windows-specific 
> malware doesn't work under Linux, but then, I was telling people that 
> email viruses were impossible right up until the first one struck.  If 
> my information's out of date, I need to know.

Which email virus are you thinking of? I don't know any that would work
on both Windows and Linux, but no doubt someone has tried.

poc