Linux the term is altogether an alien word for many people. And of the handful of people switching or let’s say having their ‘tryst’ with Linux, have a very common misconception – ‘Linux is virus free.’ A very debatable sentence, lets take a look at some arguments.

For getting to our point lets take a look at how a linux system works. Linux works in a multi-user environment, where users are given privileges of different magnitude for different purposes. A typical user would have normal privileges, simple enough to help him use the system but not change major system settings.

To spread a virus around you’ll have to gain access to the core of a linux system and for that you’ll need to have root access.

Linux is centered around security and gaining root access is nearly impossible. But, as they say, impossible is nothing. Viruses for linux are on the rise. One of the major reasons is due to the fact that linux is being spread and marketed at quite a fast rate.

To accommodate novice users, GUI’s are being integrated. And this is one of the causes of rise in viruses. How? The following is a quote from a foobar blog post:

Then you save an email attachment under Linux, the execute flag is normally NOT set and thus, the file can’t be executed just by clicking on it. So, no luck?

Not so fast. Modern desktop environments, such as Gnome and KDE, conveniently offer a nice “workaround” called ‘launchers’. Those are small files that describe how something should be started. Just a few lines that specify the name, the icon that should be displayed and the actual command to execute. Conveniently, the syntax of those launcher files is the same for Gnome and KDE. And those launchers don’t have to have any execute permissions set on them! Desktop environments treat those files as a special case, so when you click on them Gnome or KDE will happily execute the command that was specified within the launcher description and without the need for the execute bit to be set on the launcher itself. Now we are getting somewhere!

But don’t jump the gun yet. Most of the linux distros are still way safer than Windows systems. The reason being that as they are open source and have full disclosure, developers are quick to release patches/fixes.

Will he go rouge? (from pillateunlinux.wordpress.com)

Also the reason why Linux viruses are rare, is because of the simple fact that the world has too much Windows Users. So if a hacker could write a code and hack (for eg.) 60% of the world’s computers (as they are Windows-based systems) instead of only a handful of Linux computers, what would he choose?

Your thoughts…

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