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OpenAntiVirus Project Founders Interviewed

Posted by timothy on from the stomping-viruses dept.

sheriff_p writes "Rainer Link and Kurt Huwig started the OpenAntiVirus project two years ago. In this interview with Virus Bulletin, they talk about ongoing projects, the advantages of having an open-source anti-virus product, and defend their choice of Java for the main scanning engine."

3 of 7 comments (clear)

  1. Questions, Questions, Questions... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Does Linux even need a virus scanner? Will it need one if it gets more popular? How many virus scanners are there for Linux?

    Is it a good idea to have an open-source virus scanner? Won't the virus writers then know how it works and write their viruses to avoid it? (They didn't address virus writers taking advantage of the source code.)

    1. Re:Questions, Questions, Questions... by GigsVT · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Just because the source code is open doesn't mean the signature files would be any less secure than current signature files. I don't know what methods current virus scanners use to protect signatures from easy decoding, but we all know that security through obscurity is easily broken. I'd bet a simple memory debugger and a VMWare type environment could easily snarf any signatures from current virus products.

      BTW- Timothy, I wasn't trolling, I just though it was funny that your story sat here for 3 hours without a post. No hard feelings. :)

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  2. definitively needed by metalpet · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Many (every?) other important building blocks of a complete security solution are already available as open-source/free products (scanners, IDS, full disclosure mailing lists, firewalls, spam blackhole lists, etc..)

    It would make a lot of sense to have a good robust portable free anti-virus engine as well. Hopefully you would be able to deploy it on your incoming servers (mail, news, ftp, whatever) or as a standalone client on desktop.

    Plus, it would be a Very Good Thing to have a way to catch/block viruses that doesn't depend on an industry that directly relies on virus writers continuously releasing new bad things to keep generating income.