Hello, I'm having some trouble understanding this part of linux. Most people and articles on the web agree that linux does not need an antivirus but I find that hard to believe. I mean, sure, it is unlikely to get infected but possible nonetheless. The following questions come to find: 1. Can linux get infected? If so, does it need anti-virus? If so, what would be the best on-demand scanner? 2. In Windows, if it got infected the best solution was to format the drive. Since there was no real way be sure the infection was effectively cleaned. Is this true for linux? 3. In Windows, antivirus crippled performance by 20% or more. Is this the same on linux? 4. In Windows once an antivirus was installed, it was very hard to uninstall it. There were lots of leftovers that could never be removed (registty keys, files, etc) and needed the manufacturer's tool to uninstall it. Is this true for linux? 5. How can you tell a linux system is infected? In windows, if the system started working slowly, or weird icons appeared, strange shortcuts appeared in start menu or desktop, popups, foreign installed software etc. then windows was clearly infected. Is this true for linux? Thank you
You are the victim of propaganda for anti-virus programs producers. You can believe this propaganda if you want, but it will not help you in any way.
Perhaps, but I am willing to change my ways. Besides, I never used an antivirus on windows. Never trusted them to do their job and also didn't like the way they hogged resources. I only installed Malwarebytes and used it as an on-demand scanner.
Linux is vulnerable to the virus but less. Most viruses are designed for windows and almost every server is running on Linux. This type of virus can affect Linux. The most virus I see come from emails and downloads Linux is secured from these because most are .exe files. In real-world malware writers face much competition and every gang want to capture the market. We see Mac got ransomware attack Note: Mac OS is Unix based it means it has isolation. 1-2 out of 10 have Linux this means other are using windows and mac. Linux is open source that means anybody modifies create own application for Linux.Every application for Linux is not secure. Linux distro store is secured and its recommended to install from the store only. Nobody recommended recommend AV even Linux administrators. And sandbox technology Windows hold 60-70% market malware writers don't want to take any chances they create malware so they can infect N of peoples. In windows, half of the resources spent to run security applications and in Linux it's zero. iOS is secure OS because for writing an app for iOS is not easy and it's rootless you can't install the third party app. Every app has restrictions and when you code app you need to send to the Apple developers if they pass your code then you can publish your app. Spouse a new malware comes and written in java and not matter you have windows, mac ,Linux. It will infect youif java is installed in your computer so stay way from these things aswell.
Damn there is a lot of nonsense in this thread. If you run Wine then yes consider an antivirus, otherwise you don't need it unless you intend to remain on the same kernel for a long time like a Ubuntu lts.
What are you talking about? Read what I've written. There are some forms of malware that do not need root privileges.
Even if you stay on a Ubuntu LTS, the kernel is still going to be updated regularly by Canonical. You don't need antivirus on Ubuntu LTS versions.
They do incremental you have to wait quite a bit for major updates unless their policy has changed recently.
I remember that - weirdly - Windows lot was the fastest and Linux guys the slowest when it came to discovering bugs and mending them... So, whatever one can do, one should do, whatever is possible, especially with modern, strong machines...
Incremental kernel update is mainly about security update, so you don't need a major update of the kernel in order to stay safe. Are we still talking about security/antivirus? As far as this aspect is concerned, incremental kernel update is enough.
I remember it's the opposite. Linux bugs, especially security related, are generally fixed sooner than Windows, because for Windows you only got one big update every month.
sudo apt-get install rkhunter sudo apt-get upgrade run rkhunter once a day and you will be fine, use vpn, acess using a VM anything that might not be secure... then if it gets odd for a second, format both OS (vm and the host) dont play any dvd or flashdrive you find, always perform a clean format before insert it if you don`t know for sure its yours
Protect yourself against the Linux virus! It downloads, installs, and pretends it is an operating system! (OK, so I am being sarcastic.)