[vox-tech] linux and viruses

[Peter Jay Salzman]

On Thu 23 Feb 06,  6:31 PM, Cylar Z <cylarz at yahoo.com> said:
> 
> It turns out that he was not even aware that Linux can speak TCP/IP and
> supports DHCP client networking functions.

That's mind blowing, no matter what his background or concentration is.
Doesn't he read books or magazines related to his field?

> I guess my question to you all is this: Did I make a true statement? Is
> Linux really virus-proof? If so, is it just because of its relatively
> small share of the OS market, or is there a more technical reason for
> this? If so, what? If I told him one, it might get through to him.

It depends on what you mean by "impervious", and perhaps what you mean by
"Linux".  There are proof of concept viruses of the ELF format.

But the Unix environment is such a hostile environment for a virus, that
no public epidemic has ever occured.

I can make a stronger statement than that:  The Unix environment is so
hostile to viruses, that I've never even heard of a *single* inadvertant
infection.

> And what about malware? Is Linux resistant to that as well?

The answer is "pretty much".  Of course, no guarantees.  The closest thing
to malware that I've personaly ever heard of was a few years back, someone
had managed to slip a malpatched version of some program into the Debian
pool, but it was caught quickly due to checksums.

The answer to your question is, ostensibly, yes.

> Think of this as an opportunity to further infiltrate Microsoft's domain.
> Help me explain to my admin why attaching a Linux client won't hurt his
> network.

Don't bother.  You'll never be able to teach him what he ought to know.  He
simply doesn't want to know.

Pete