D&C GLug - Home Page

[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]

[LUG] Linux - and security

 

A little while ago I received an email telling me that my bank account
details had got messed up and if I would like to click on the button
below ..... yeah, right! It wasn't even my bank.

More recently I had an email telling me that my Facebook account had got
blocked and if I would like to click on the button ...... I have never
had a FB account.

The fact the I use Linux is not relevant to this, but it got me thinking
about Linux and security. I seems to me that the perceived wisdom about
this is as follows,

1 Right from the start Linux was written to be very secure
2 Therefore it is difficult to write malware for it.
3 By comparison with other OS's there are not many Linux users.
4 So, because of all the above, the bad guys don't bother with Linux.
5 If Linux users happen to download a virus it will not cause a problem
(wrong OS).

Now I don't think it is as simple as that, but I do think it would be
both interesting and useful to hear what other list members can tell us
about all this. The computer world seems to be getting more insecure and
dangerous every day, right?

Anyone?

Neil


-- 
The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG
http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list
FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq