[NTLUG:Discuss] information about viruses

[Steve Baker]

AFAIK, there has only ever been one *email* virus program that affects
Linux - and it could only infect you if you used MS Outlook under WINE.
Something like that doesn't stand a hope in hell of spreading.

You *really* don't need a traditional Virus scanner for Linux boxes.
Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably out to make a quick buck.

The two things you *MIGHT* need are:

1) A virus scanner that runs under Linux that pre-screens email that's
    ultimately going to be read on a Windows machine.  If you have Windows
    machines to look after, it makes a lot of sense to screen your email
    on a Linux machine simply because you don't have to worry about the
    screening process becoming infected.

2) Worms, Trojan horses and other infections that come in from the Internet
    via ports you leave open for various services ARE possible - and there are
    a wide variety of tools to handle these issues.  However, you probably only
    need to defend your firewall and web servers in this way.

---------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------
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