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Information Technology News Being a good netizen – protecting Linux from network nasties
Information Technology News Being a good netizen – protecting Linux from network nasties | Being a good netizen – protecting Linux from network nasties |
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| by David M Williams | |
| Thursday, 01 November 2007 | |
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Page 2 of 3 The reason is Microsoft Windows. Specifically, the need to network with it. No man is an island and no Linux system lives in complete isolation of Windows, it is always around.Featured Whitepaper
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When the world is increasingly interconnected, the problems suffered by Windows brethren indirectly affect Linux users. While Linux itself never had to take battle with the famous Melissa virus, many Linux sendmail servers around the world did suffer the consequence of being overloaded with mail messages. While Linux itself had no quarrel with the ExploreZip virus, system admins did have to restore files from Samba file shares which were deleted by infected Windows hosts. So, yes, it’s true: the greatest reason for running anti-virus on a Linux system is not ultimately for your own protection, but to help out those darn pesky Windows users who keep getting infected. It’s about trying to minimise the difficulties they face, which in turn benefits everyone, because a cleaner Internet is one which suffers less spam, less denial-of-service attacks, less intrusive network traffic and even less family and friends who keep bugging us with their flaky Windows problems. Really, it’s about being a good citizen of the Internet – a netizen. Even if such warm sentiment doesn’t quite make you want to stand straight and place your hand on your heart, consider this: if your Linux system is heavily-trafficked but doesn’t scan what it is passing on, you may well be propagating virus outbreaks. Your computer is not infected; your computer is not directly trying to infect others – but it is carrying the virus through e-mail attachments or other means. You might as well rename your system Typhoid Mary, the US chef who infected 47 people with typhoid fever. She carried the disease, but was healthy herself; it’s speculated she was born with the disease and is the first identified healthy carrier. She did not believe she was causing harm to others, and refused to cease working as a cook. She died, age 69, of pneumonia and an autopsy confirmed the presence of live typhoid bacteria in her gallbladder. Linux really has the perfect position to place itself as the ultimate Windows anti-virus mechanism: it can work all day with Windows viruses without fear of self-harm. It stands to reason that any responsible Linux file server ought to scan the files it holds, and any responsible Linux mail server ought to scan the mail it receives and transmits. As much as it may grate or seem ironic, Linux users have an important obligation to the Internet world to make Microsoft Windows systems run all that more smoothly. |
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