[vox-tech] Spyware For Linux?

[Jonathan Stickel]

It is clear that Linux doesn't have a spyware or virus problem.  I've 
been wondering, though, about the frequency of compromised Linux systems 
of home users.  By compromised, I mean an someone's entered illegally 
through a backdoor and is running whatever they want.  Occasionally I 
hear of it happening with power Linux users running all kinds of 
internet services, but does it happen with home users?  Can it happen if 
they don't use any network daemons?  It bothers me that Fedora turns 
sshd on by default.  A naive user could set a silly root password, and 
they'll be cracked in a few hours.

I kind of watch Gentoo security announcements.  Many of them deal with 
denial of service (DOS) attacks where a program running as nonroot could 
hang the computer.  How often does this happen?  I'm less concerned 
about this one because I would notice right away and fix it.  A 
comprised system can go undetected for awhile and mean lots of clean up 
work.

Jonathan


Mark K. Kim wrote:
> It's "anti-spyware" program, not spyware program.  Spyware programs slow
> down your computer.
> 
> Linux doesn't have spyware.  So no, you don't need anti-spyware software.
> 
> Even Windows doesn't need one if you know what you're doing.  My Windows
> system as well as my parents' run perfectly fine without any typical
> slowdown you see on a spywared systems.  Stop clicking on random things on
> the web especially stupid ads and downloading illegal software and free
> software you've never heard of and using bad e-mail readers!
> 
> -Mark
> 
> 
> On Tue, 15 Mar 2005, Bob Scofield wrote:
> 
> 
>>A friend of mine was recently complaining that her Windows computer was too
>>slow.   She said it ran much faster after running a spyware program.
>>
>>My son just sent me a message he received from the U.C.S.C. computer people.
>>They advised running spyware to speed up computers.  So here are my
>>questions.  Does Linux need spyware?  Is there spyware available for Linux?
>>
>>Also, check this passage out from the U.C.S.C. post:
>>
>>"Microsoft's Internet Explorer has been the target of many of the bad guys
>>attempting to ruin your web browsing experience. Use of the Firefox web
>>browser is great way to keep your web surfing as smooth as possible.  You can
>>download it from http://www.getfirefox.com"
>>
>>Bob
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>>
>>
> 
>