On Wed, 10 May 2000, Paul Lussier wrote:
> You're only considering Netscape here, let's not forget that IE *HAS* been
> ported to Unix!
Does anyone actually use *IE* for Unix? :-)
> Just wait. Linux/Unix will get hit with something like this, and then
> MS's PR machine is going to be all over it.
One of Microsoft's branch offices already claimed that Linux is vulnerable
to VBS/LoveLetter, so I don't really think we have to wait for reality for
MS's PR machine to start cranking stuff out.
Unix is generally much more secure against the typical virus attacks seen in
the Windoze world. I don't think there is any doubt of that. Even if virus
writers try slipping things in using trojan suid executables in pre-compiled
packages, I think it would be fairly straight-forward to build protection
against that into the package management tools. If you thus prevent a virus
from infecting other programs, you take away all the incentive to write one.
You worst that could happen would be "cd ; rm -rf .". That is nasty, but not
very interesting to the virus crowd. It's been done.
Now, what made VBS/LoveLetter so damaging is that fact that it was a worm,
not just a virus. What enabled VBS/LoveLetter was that a single mail tool is
installed and in use everywhere in the Windows world. Thus, a single exploit
could propagate itself very quickly.
Could the same thing happen on Unix? Of course -- The Great Worm of '88 was
the exact same thing: A hole in a single mail tool used everywhere -- namely,
sendmail -- is what allowed that worm to move from system to system.
Could it happen again? Well, sendmail is still in use nearly everywhere.
Pine is a very popular MUA. Netscape is pretty much the only web browser.
Any time you have this kind of a homogeneous software environment, the damage
possible from a security exploit is magnified hugely.
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Net Technologies, Inc. <http://www.ntisys.com>
Voice: (800)905-3049 x18 Fax: (978)499-7839
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