Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1999 14:56:30 +1100 From: Harry Woodward-Clarke <Harry.Woodward-Clarke@S1.com> To: "Frank J. Zidar" <zidarf@zidar.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: virus Message-ID: <38619D6E.591A72D0@S1.com> References: <NCBBKJHGKKAODNDGGJIMAEOKCDAA.zidarf@zidar.com>
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Hullo Frank, > > Greg, could you please elaborate on the non-issue of viruses. I am still > new to *nix and would like to use this as a yet another selling point to my > customers to get them to go with a FreeBSD server instead of NT. > I'm not Grog, but I'm happy to tread in these waters :') What makes FreeBSD specifically, and Unix in general, and all other "real" Operating Systems (e.g. OpenVMS) less susceptible to virii is the inability of user accounts to write to the "system" areas. This is the main reason why it is "bad" to use 'root' as your 'working' account on your BSD box. If you do happen to download something malicious via a Browser with Java enabled (not a "good idea" anyway) then it will only trash your user directory. But if you run as 'root' and do the same thing, well... ever typed "rm *" in "/" and then tried to hit "^C"? - no matter how fast you are, the system is faster ;') Yes, there are exploits, and all sorts of things that you can (not) do to make it easier for nasty people to hack into your machine, but in general, a well set up "real OS" machine with everyone using their own user account will rarely experience a virus attack. Now, Trojan Horses and Worms are another mail ;') hth, |-| To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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