Re: [gentoo-user] Which desktop antivirus?

[Florian Philipp <lists@binarywings.net>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1612 bytes --]

Am 22.10.2011 13:29, schrieb Nilesh Govindarajan:
> On Sat 22 Oct 2011 04:57:33 PM IST, Mick wrote:
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I'm asked for a desktop antivirus (the box is running KDE) but I have never 
>> used an antivirus on Linux.  This page that I googled up shows a number of 
>> them:
>>
>>   http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/free-linux-antivirus-programs/
>>
>> Meanwhile, portage only lists clamav under app-antivirus/.
>>
>> The machine in question is running kmail to receive/send messages from ISP 
>> mail servers and ssmtp to send log messages for relaying via said ISP.
>>
>> What have you tried and what would you recommend for such a desktop setup?
> 
> IMHO, you don't need antivirus on a Linux box, unless you're going to 
> run a mail relay, where you are responsible for saving recipents from 
> viruses.

I agree. Check that your ISP performs virus checks. If not or if you
want to be extra sure, I think kmail can work with clamav -- at least it
could in the old 3.x days when I still used it.

> The simplest reason of all is, Linux doesn't know how to execute 
> Windows binaries.
> 

Well, this is an oversimplification.
1) Any box running Wine is possibly as exposed to your classic
pretty-women.exe mail attachments as any windows systems.
2) You should also be worried about Open/LibreOffice macro viruses as
well as PDF vulnerabilities. Not to forget Flash, Java or Mozilla based
exploits.

Still, keeping your system up-to-date and observing the freshly revived
GLSA notifications is more likely to save your butt than clamav.

Cheers,
Florian Philipp


[-- Attachment #2: OpenPGP digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 262 bytes --]