__/ [ arachnid ] on Thursday 10 August 2006 01:39 \__
> On Wed, 09 Aug 2006 18:06:51 -0700, peterwn wrote:
>
>
>> arachnid wrote:
>>
>>> As system administrators move to Linux files servers they have a
>>> real problem to deal with since the Linux file server can store
>>> Windows-based viruses. Windows-based viruses can write to a
>>> Linux/Samba network share as easily as they can on a Microsoft
>>> Windows based network. System administrators must protect the Linux
>>> server from storing these viruses. The only way is through active
>>> antivirus defense on the Linux server itself... <snip>
>>
>> Agreed - it makes sense to install the likes of Clam anti-virus or
>> similar in such situations. This looks for Windows viruses.
>>
>> If someone is trying to peddle an anti-virus to protect Linux systems,
>> one needs to ask what the product actually does.
>
> Is this what they mean by "selling ice to an eskimo?"
>
> I'd like to have a breakdown of those 100 viruses and their applicability
> to current systems. Most of them are probably obsolete viruses from years
> and years ago that never made it out of the lab. I'd guess there might
> be 5 or less out of the bunch that could pose a danger today, IF you had
> the right distro, with the right kernel version, running the right version
> of some application, had your system misconfigured just so, and did
> something really stupid to get infected in the first place.
True. That's where diversity (as opposed to monoculture) serves a purpose.
See the following:
,----[ Quote ]
| To test her concept, Forrest experimented with a version of the
| open-source operating system Linux. She altered the system to force
| programs to assign data to memory locations at random. Then she subjected
| the computer to several well-known attacks that used the buffer-overflow
| technique. None could get through. Instead, they targeted the wrong area
| of memory. Although part of the software would often crash, Linux would
| quickly restart it, and get rid of the virus in the process.
`----
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/08/security_and_mo.html
Also see:
http://www.redhat.com/f/rm/choice_small.rm
http://www.redhat.com/f/ogg/choice.ogg
The part about complex systems built from the best components springs to
mind.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
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Statistics are lies.
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