But, all a program would need to do is use its own SMTP engine and scan the /home directory for files which contain email addresses. Assuming they will delete DLL files when told, why not? Also, wonder how much fun you could have with rogue Mozilla/Firefox extensions? Can package managers be exploited in any way? Maybe dicking with a program’s adpt dependencies to go and download something nasty?Īs for b, it has been my experience that if something needs root acces, it’ll prompt Joe Sixpack for a password, which he will gleefully type in whenever instructed, especially since people told him that if he moved to Linux, he wouldn’t have a virus problem, so why not? I think typing in the root password in Linux will be the equivalent to running email attachments in Windows.Īnd speaking of email, if there was a way (through social engineering or whatever) to get user to run an email attachment, some people thing that since there’s no Outlook, there’s no security problem. Or, maybe you could use some social engineering to get the user to modify his /etc/sources.list file. All you gotta do is get your app out on some repository somewhere, or get the user to download it from some website … ie, maybe he’s looking for something that isn’t in the apt repository yet, or whatever. So, rather than trying to get a virus on a user’s system, why not build one right into the program’s source code, recompile it, and PRESTO – instant gratification once the app is installed. For starters, most of the apps are open source and there are a lot of ‘unofficial’ repositories out there. In regards to a, I can only wonder if anyone has considered the possibility that there may be a more effective way to spread viruses/worms on Linux than email attachments.

Many people say that if Linux were more popular, it wouldn’t have the problem with viruses/worms that Windows does because:ī) Most things that could damage the system require root access For whatever reason, I can’t pull up the article (have they been Slashdotted?) Anyway, here’s a thought:

Bonzi buddy download no adware