DSL-Antivirus

Forum: DSL Ideas and Suggestions
Topic: DSL-Antivirus
started by: dotNyet

Posted by dotNyet on July 10 2005,14:31

my network at home is mixed, windows & linux together and i had some trouble with viruses et al, some of them were really stubborn

. While working on sanitizing , new idea was born: Linux Antivirus LiveCD. DamnSallLinux. BitDefender provides a linux/freebsd version of their antivirus software, wich found very functional. Examples:
- AVG : sees the infected file, cannot clean, cannot delete
- Kaspersky : sees nothing, does nothing
- BitDefender win32 : sees the infected file, cannot clean, cannot delete
- BitDefender linux : sees infected file, cleans it, deletes it, moves it to carantine, depending on your option.Good boy.
So, why not build an Antivirus LiveCD? Or including BitDefender(or any other av software) on DSL?
...any opinion? :angry:

how about a poll?

Posted by cbagger01 on July 10 2005,15:25

Been there, done that.

There exists a 50MB antivirus livecd, which is somewhat based on ideas originated by the DSL livecd.

It is called INSERT.

You can get it here:

< http://www.inside-security.de/insert_en.html >

Posted by adssse on July 10 2005,15:33

I am just curious, is there any antivirus programs that are dsl extensions in the repository? I realize that there is probably not a high demand for it but I didnt see any and this thread just made me wonder.

Posted by dotNyet on July 10 2005,16:07

Quote (cbagger01 @ July 10 2005,11:25)

yep, there it is

and it`s packed with lots of handy tools, i like it.
thanks for the link

Posted by hawki on July 10 2005,16:42

Hi
If I am running a Gatesless environment should I care?
thanks

Posted by cbagger01 on July 11 2005,16:10

Most Linux antivirus programs are actually used to filter or detect MSWindows viruses that are harmless to the Linux machine.

They are primarily used for e-mail server filtering (to prevent virus-infected emails from reaching MSWindows users) or for system rescue (to revive dead MSWindows installations).

There are a few antivirus programs that will also scan for Unix/Linux viruses and trojans but most users don't bother to use them because as of today there is no "Linux Virus" problem to worry about.

Posted by adssse on July 11 2005,17:13

Thanks for the info cbagger01. As I am still fairly new to linux, I guess I still view a virus program as a type of security blanket of sorts for my system. Not used to not having to worry about them I guess.

Posted by cbagger01 on July 12 2005,03:18

If you want that extra security blanket, there are virus scanners available for linux viruses that can be installed.

But most users seem to be satisfied with the way linux handles security by design.

Now if someone figures out how to develop an effective linux virus or trojan horse, this could change. But so far the built-in security concepts that come with linux and other unix-like operating systems combined with the lesser "Bang for the buck" that a virus writer gets as a reward when attacking something other than the popular MSWindows have both helped prevent effective linux viruses.

I am more concerned with trojan-horse style social engineering based attacksin the distant future, where the bad guys depend on the gullibility of the user to defeat the built-in security.

For example, even if you have a MSWindows virus scanner but you decide to install "free" file sharing software that comes bundled with voluntarily installed spyware programs, your virus scanner is useless to protect you.

Same is true for linux. All the built-in security in the world will not prevent a user from doing something stupid that hurts him or herself.

But I digress...