I have always found the idea of viruses on Unix amusing. I mean, any user can cause damage to his/her files, either manually or by running a script or binary. But this is not an "infection" as the system is left completely untouched. What worries me though is the way the news sites report "Linux viruses". Someone unfamiliar with Linux/Unix might think: "Oh! So Unix also has viruses, just like Windows." This I think is giving a completely wrong impression about Unix to such people.
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I have always found the idea of viruses on Unix amusing. I mean, any user can cause damage to his/her files, either manually or by running a script or binary. But this is not an "infection" as the system is left completely untouched. What worries me though is the way the news sites report "Linux viruses". Someone unfamiliar with Linux/Unix might think: "Oh! So Unix also has viruses, just like Windows." This I think is giving a completely wrong impression about Unix to such people.