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Re: [PLUG] Unix vs Dos for Virus Content
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[PLUG] Unix vs Dos for Virus Content>From: Bevilacqua, Michael
>I've heard a few things here and there about Unix vs. Dos in regards
>to virus activity where "there are no significant virui on the unix
>platform." Again, I heard something similar last night as I attended
>my first PLUG meeting. Is this due to the massive amount of binary
>compilation that Dos utilizes over a very ASCii based, open-scripted
>and conf'd Unix?
Welcome!
No, it has more to do with the OS design.
You can script in a Windows environment, too (no one really uses DOS
anymore). And many of the viruses that you hear about - Melissa, I-Love-You,
etc - happen because the OS executes things by default - like HTML scripts
in an email - and Unix does not execute such things by defaut. Also because
many Windows users seem to like executing unknown binaries they get in the
email. :-)
Unix also does a better job (by default) of enforcing permissions - a user
program can't just go and replace system files in /bin or /sbin, for
example. Windows NT/2000 does this same kind of enforcement (to a somewhat
lesser degree, I think), but not Win9x/WinMe - which is what most home users
have. Those home OS systems are installed wide-open by default; most users
don't know enough to lock them down; and you can't lock them down as tightly
as you can for Unix/WinNT/2K, even if you wanted to. So some user program
could easily replace WSOCK32.DLL - the TCP/IP Sockets Library - with their
own infected version. It's much more difficult for a Unix program to go
replacing /bin/bash, for example. (altho it can happen - that's what root
toolkits are - hacked replacements for system binaries - altho the bad guys
gain entrance to your system via exploits (which are not spreadable) and not
viruses (which are spreadable)) .
I'm starting to ramble, I think. :-)
BTW ... you might want to try posting in plain text; a lot of Unix/Linux
folks loathe ... err, dislike .... HTML email. :-)
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