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Re: [LUG] Ransomware

 


On 14/09/2017 12:10, Neil wrote:
> Yesterday evening I happened to catch part of a TV program that I don't
> normally watch, Rip-Off Britain. This particular section had the story
> of a woman who got caught out through an email.
> 
> She received an email which she did not recognise. After some hesitation
> she opened it, realised it was not for her and closed it down. She
> thought nothing more about it until the following morning when she saw
> the usual demand for money on her computer screen.
> 
> To finish the story, she did not pay, but found some company which
> specialises in sorting out these problems. In the end she got back
> almost all of her personal files. (Back up? What's that?).
> 
> This got me thinking. Up to now I have thought that any email containing
> malware would not cause any trouble unless you actually clicked on an
> attachment. Just opening the email was safe. Obviously I was wrong.
> 
> I suppose this malware was written for Windows. I also think that,
> should I be silly/unlucky enough to open up such an email, the malware
> would not run on my computer, wrong OS. Perhaps I am mistaken again.
> 
> Could some one on the list please clarify this for me, and others? It
> would appear that at least some of my ideas on this are wrong. Just how
> safe is Linux?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Neil
> 


Any operating system is unsafe against attacks designed for it.
The first virus attacked Mac OS. (Unix/BSD/ Linux type OS)
Opening a malformed* web site or malformed* email can load malware.
Malformed*  is here meaning 'designed to do harm'
Attaching a USB stick to a computer without opening the USB stick can
infect computer and network (Think  attack on Iranian OSs controlling
centrifuges.)
Linux (desktop single users) because it is not so popular has a smaller
number of attacks than popular Windows OS, But industrial attacks on
servers controlling machinery (as Linux is often used for industrial
networks) is high in exploits against industry.

-- 

Regards
Eion MacDonald

.

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