[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]
On 02/11/2012 09:29, Neil Winchurst wrote:
I'll leave the question of Linux security to those more knowledgeable than me. I think that in today's environment, social engineering and education are as important (perhaps more so) than technological security. For example a friend gets regular calls to clear viruses etc off people's computers (Windows) and he always installs Zone Alarm with each job and tells them how it works and what it does. He's lost count of the number of repeat visits he's made to the same people to find their PC is re-infected as they've uninstalled Zone Alarm 'because it kept popping up getting on their nerves!' Quite common when a teenager has downloaded an attachment on Windows Live Messenger, and the parents are fed up of the kid complaining. They seem oblivious to the fact that the 'popping up' was warning them not to do something stupid, which they promptly did infecting their PC. These are the same people who fall for the scam phone calls and emails claiming they have a virus, or their bank account has been hacked. Inevitably these same people would allow a virus to be installed on whatever computer - or phone - they owned regardless of the OS it was running simply through ignorance.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
Until we can stop people deliberately circumventing security, preferably by education, I don't honestly think any technological security is going to be enough. This is why I agree wholeheartedly with the idea of educating people in the simple but effective defences, such as 'Don't click that link until you are CERTAIN where it goes to', etc.
Julian -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq