No need for AV tools on Linux, eh?

[James McKenzie]

On 2/11/11 4:42 PM, mattias wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: users-bounces at lists.fedoraproject.org
> [mailto:users-bounces at lists.fedoraproject.org] On Behalf Of Sam Sharpe
> Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 12:40 AM
> To: Community support for Fedora users
> Subject: Re: No need for AV tools on Linux, eh?
>
>
> On 11 February 2011 23:22, Fernando Cassia<fcassia at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> On Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 5:47 PM, Darr<darr at core.com>  wrote:
>>> On Thursday, February 10, 2011 @21:49 zulu, Fernando Cassia scribed
>>> (twice):
>>>
>>>> Are you using a time machine to report news, from the past? look at
>>>> the dates...
>>>>
>>>> Published:  Mar 07 2010 12:00AM
>>>> Updated: Apr 27 2010 02:22PM
>>>>
>>>> FC
>>> Please don't CC to fedora-list at redhat.com
>>>
>>> Thanks.  :-)
>> I didn´t manually type that in. I just used the Reply function in
>> GMail, that must have been part of the original message or cc: field
>> of it. In fact, I m not even subscribed to that list so no matter what
>> I send to it, it´ll be bounced.
> Yep - the original message from jdow was sent to fedora-list at redhat.com,
> so the rebuke seems misdirected.
Mattias said:
> I reealy not understand anything now
>
I use Linux/UNIX in a high security environment.  We HAVE to install 
AV.  Why?  To prevent the spread of Windows viruses and to prevent a 
worm attack (this is the main concern for UNIX system administrators.)  
I also use Macs. Ditto.  There is one KNOWN FreeBSD/MacOSX exploit in 
the wild.  However, I don't want to be crushed when a Windows level 
attack happens.

And yes, all Operating Systems have vulnerabilities.  This is a fact of 
life.  The application you run on your Linux box may not be as secure as 
you think it is and thus is subject to a buffer overflow or a Cross-Site 
Scripting attack (which is what the OP posted).  So you think you are 
'safe and secure' while the bad guys are bouncing spam off your system 
and doing other 'bad' stuff.

AV and a HIDS/HIPS are the stuff of today.  Even on your home system 
behind a firewall....

James McKenzie
SSCP #367830