To my knowledge (which is very little :), there are no viruses for
linux/Unix. What you DO have to worry about are trojan horses. A virus
is a PIECE OF DATA that is encapsulated in an executable, when run...it
replicates itself and spreads across ANY connection-oriented
communications...(floppy disks, networks, etc.) A trojan horse on the
other hand, does NOT replicate...but is actually a program that when
runs, looks like it is doing one thing, but does somthing else (usually
harmful). In UNIX, the harm done is USUALLY contained (unlike the Morris
Jr. Virus)...
Hope that helps!
-Regards
Peeyush Singh
On Mon, 26 Oct 1998, S A Hills wrote:
> Nope. A virus is simply a bit of software that replicates itself throughout
> your system. While I am reasonably unfamiliar with Unix, I believe that many
> viruses were written for it especially in the 1980s when file
> sharing/networking was becoming commonplace between Unix machines but before
> there were many safeguards. That may be incorrect, but it's what I've heard.
> There were also viruses out for my friend's Amiga some ten years ago. The
> only reason that viruses might become more of a DOS/Win phenomenon is
> because these operating systems are the most popular in the world, hence
> there is a lot of software for them (viruses included).
>
> Don't actually know about Linux viruses... anyone else have any ideas?
>
> cheers,
>
> Shaun :-)
>
> At 06:59 26/10/98 +0500, you wrote:
> >Hi everyone,
> >
> >A friend told me that there are some Linux viruses around. I did not
> >believe him, I told him that viruses are only a DOS & Windows phenomenon.
> >Am I right?
> >
> >Thanks
> >Ishaaq Chandy
> >
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>
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