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Is the Unix Community Worried About Worms?
jaliathus asks: "While the Microsoft side of the computer world works overtime these days to fight worms, virii and other popular afflictions of NT, we in the Linux camp shouldn't be resting *too* much. After all, the concept of a worm similar to Code Red or Nimda could just as easily strike Linux ... it's as easy as finding a known hole and writing a program that exploits it, scans for more hosts and repeats. The only thing stopping it these days is Linux's smaller marketshare. (Worm propagation is one of those n squared problems). Especially if our goals of taking over the computing world are realized, Linux can and will be a prime target for the worm writers. What are we doing about it? Of course, admins should always keep up on the latest patches, but can we do anything about worms in the abstract sense?" Dispite the difficulties in starting a worm on a Unix clone, such a feat is still within the realm of possibility. Are there things that the Unix camp can be learning from Code Red and Nimbda?
The UNIX world already had a worm that recursively exploited security holes and spread, back in 1988.
THAT was the worm to learn from, not Code Red!
Even if Linux gained market dominance, it wouldn't quite be the monoculture that Windows is. There are many distributions of Linux, which put important files in different places. This isn't insurmountable but it does make writing a worm capable of running rampant a wee bit harder.
Also, it's my experience that (for now) people who set up Linux to run on the net are a little bit more clueful than NT administrators. NT seems to encourage the idea that any moron can run it because it's point and click. This isn't true; it takes more work to effectively admin an NT box than a Linux box.
There have and will continue to be worms. Worms are most successful at any point of monoculture. (sendmail; bind; IIS) The solution, then, is not dominance... but diversity.
People are never as simple as their stereotypes. This applies equally to Christians, Muslims, and Emacs-lovers.
If someone doesn't patch their Windows systems why would they patch their Linux systems? Doesn't matter if the patch is out 2 seconds after the bug is revealed if the admin doesn't take notice and act.