Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 08:28:36 -0500 From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: Louis LeBlanc <leblanc+freebsd@acadia.ne.mediaone.net> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: just how many known viruses are there for FreeBSD? Message-ID: <15209.21892.31793.581177@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <24289845@toto.iv>
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Louis LeBlanc <leblanc+freebsd@acadia.ne.mediaone.net> types: > Although more and more MUAs are integrating mailcap handling and will > eventually be able to run incoming code in a M$ fashion. The real > protection from this will be making these bells and whistles > completely optional, unlike what M$ has done. I thought they were optional but turned on by default in the MS tools - which is only marginally better than not being able to turn them off. > I still think there will be some pretty heavy swingers looking for the > holes in the Unix OSs, that is probably somewhat of a holy grail for > the virus hacker community. Then again, maybe I'm just paranoid. I think some of the heaviest swingers of the last quarter century spent a fair chunk of their time as undergraduates trying to break into Unix systems, as it's been used for student computing at the best CS schools in the country - if not the world - since the mid 70s. That makes me think the basic protection model is pretty solid. During that period, there have been no major virii, and only one worm that did enough damage to be publicized. At this time, bright people on both sides are looking for applications holes that worms can use, meaning it's a race to see which side finds it first. On the other hand - if you're the security officer, "to paranoid" means you annoy people to the point that they fire you. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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