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Linux and the Smile.D Virus keeps us Smiling
pstreck writes "News Forge is running a humor filled satire on the the recent Smile.D cross platform virus. It's a good read and just another reminder of why that other operating system needs to figure out a new security policy."
Linux and the Smile.D Virus keeps us Smiling
That pun would work better if it was actually called the Smile.D Virus.
Symantec and ZDNet appear to call it Simile.D.
He Who Is Without Sin Should Cast The First Stone
I personally felt the article was childish. Windows has a lot of malware that take advantage of gullible users by sending them deceptive emails with enticing attachments. Linux on the other hand typically has more savvy users. However pointing and giggling is what I'd expect from teenage high schoolers flush from teh rush of their first kernel compilation and not a supposed journalist like Roblimo.
PS: Yes, I work for MSFT. Yes, I run both Windows and Linux at home. Yes, I've been hit by a Windows virus once (CodeRed off of a web page) and had my RedHat box r00ted twice before I learned the hard way.
1) Any of the Windows viruses/worms that are of the "double click the attachment" variety would work just as well on Linux as they would on Windows, were there more "Windows users" using Linux. They modify/damage user files and replicate themselves though email... who needs root to do that? I think the main reason you don't see as many of these is 1) the ratio of Windows desktops to Linux desktops is very large, and 2) Linux users usually know not to touch attachments like this. So if you're a virus/worm writer, why bother with Linux at all when your code can spread 100 times as fast though the Windows systems?
2) That comment about a Linux virus being easier to clean up is a bunch of crap. I've seen plenty of novice Windows users try to remove viruses from thier system using instructions and fail, and it's not because "there are no hidden files." It's because manual removal of viruses on Windows usually involves using system utilities and commands that most Windows computer users have never used before (regedit, command prompt.) Sure, the instructions are easy to follow for Linux... it's because you're a Linux user, and have to use the equivalents of these Windows utilities in every day tasks anyway.
3) "So it looks like the old dream of Linux eventually overtaking Windows and becoming the world's most popular operating system will never come to pass..." Well, if Linux was to become easier to use for the users who suffer from attachment-clicking syndrome, and who don't have the skills/balls to follow clean-up instructions, suddenly Linux will be alot more popular, will see alot more viruses, and virus scan software will still be business as usual.
I don't even know where to begin. Should I begin by saying that calling people "morons" because these people don't immediately reformat their computer and install Linux is a bit of a stretch? Or should I point out that Lindows automatically logs users in as root on their Linux boxen? Or should I wonder aloud how Roblimo would like programmers to make money if not by making useful utilities like virus scanners?
This whole article takes the disgusting tone of insulting people who obviously aren't as "smart" as the article's author. I find this elitism disgusting, and frankly, embarrassing to the greater geek community.
How many of us are quick to insult people who don't know the difference between root and another user? How many of us call the repair guy because we don't know how to repair the air conditioner, refrigerator, or our car? Would you like it if your mechanic said, "I can't believe you don't know the difference between 10W30 and 10W40. You're obviously a moron."?
Face it, folks, not everyone wants to be a computer expert. Not everyone wants to get involved in flamewars like vi vs. emacs or Linux vs. Windows. They just want to turn on their computer and have it work. And with any operating system, those same people will have to learn how to maintain it by applying patches (just like you have to maintain your car by taking it in for maintenance every so often.)
The fact that this article is categorized as "humor" doesn't make the elitism any less inherent. We should be educating people about the importance of software maintenance, not bashing them for being "morons" because they don't want to know the technical stuff. To most people, computers are a tool to get a job done, not a religion. Windows makes it easy to do most jobs. Therefore, most people are pretty happy with Windows.
Mod me down if you wish. I have 50 karma and I don't care much about karma ratings anyway. But I think this is important for a lot of geeks to understand -- just becuase we may have more technical knowledge does not give us the right to call people with less technical knowledge "morons" -- humor category or not.
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Blah blah blah Windows bad.
Blah blah blah Linux good.
Blah blah blah idiots use Windows.
CmdrTaco posted this? I'm so shocked!
This article is not satire, is not it original, nor is it well written.
I wish I could moderate CmdrTaco down for being a troll just once.
SetupWeasel
Here we go again! Let's laugh at people who think "that Bill Gates deserves their money", let's laugh at people who buy anti-viruses, let's laugh at Windows while we're at it, and of course, let's praise our wonderful unbreakable operating system. Ah! This virus fails to infect me, viruses are so uneffective against l33t linux! Nobody can root me, nobody can root me!
Am I the only one not laughing? Am I the only one watching with, not fear, but interest and attention, the great innovations being done in the field of the Linux viruses?
We have a virus that can infect both Linux and Windows binaries. A virus that can try to infect a Linux box from a Windows box. A virus that is extremely hard to detect and destroy on Windows. Sure, it doesn't work well enough, yet. It's, after all, only the third generation virus. But it is nevertheless a great technical achievement, a new milestone release, a step towards havoc.
When these viruses will be able to infect a Linux partition from a Windows partition, or a Windows partition from a Linux partition, each time bypassing the security and anti-virus of the operating system it is infecting - hey, the OS is not even running! - will you laugh that much? Nobody can root you? And what about a virus that has ext2-level access to your root partition? Yes, from Windows? Who is 100% Windows-free? Who never has two OSes on the same machine?
Virus authors are showing are growing interest to Linux, and as more and more viruses are able to spread on Linux, more and more anti-viruses Linux will need. You might not like it, but it seems unavoidable to me. And if you really hate the anti-virus companies, start an open-source project. Now.
Let's come back to this discussion in a couple of years. And we'll see if you were right to laugh. I hope so. I don't believe it.
1. The steady transition of Linux from a "geeks only" OS to a corporate mainstay. This will make Linux a more appealing target.
2. The arrogance of those who think that Linux isn't vulnerable.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
You would be correct, but only if security was an absolute. It is not.
What does it mean to "be secure?" It is easy to spew common *ix security logic when that is all you know and think about when security is the topic. You have to take a step back to understand the nature of security.
I'm rusty on *ix history, but I'm fairly certain security was never a top priority of the original Unix, until later. If you check up I'm sure you will find that security actually _was_ added to *ix on a as-needed basis.
As an example consider this: until fairly recently (mid to late '90s) denial-of-service was not a threat. *ix admins everywhere had to rush to turn off common "safe" services such as ping, finger, etc. as a result of what they believed was security.
The _biggest_ threat will always come unannounced and from a never suspected "location." What *ix has for security is simply barriers for the patterned attacks. Security has been a buzzword of sorts long before Microsoft--and will continue to be a "buzzword" as long as people foolishly believe that security is an absolute.
Dijkstra Considered Dead