[ale] Linux Virus

[Bob]

Besides the other poster mentioning that Linux avoids the Windows equivalent
of everyone running as root, most Linux software is not so stupid as to
run foreign code without human intervention.

The default Netscape behavior is to _not_ run URLs that are shell scripts,
tar archives, and the like, though someone can enable this if they really
want to.  It's best to check your Netscape Applications config.

/etc/mailcap and some mailers' config files can be configured to run foreign
code too.

The UNIX/Linux world is _not_ immune from viruses, though.  In the late
1970s the Internet was dominated by systems running BSD and AT&T-version of
UNIX.  In a one month period I discovered a bug in each of these variants
that would have allowed me to take over about 90% of the Internet!  (These
bugs certainly are fixed by now in all but the most ancient systems.)  The
world is due for another UNIX/Linux virus, possibly due to a Format error.

Bob Toxen
bob at cavu.com
http://www.cavu.com
http://www.cavu.com/sunset.html        [Sunset Computer]
Fly-By-Day Consulting, Inc.      "Don't go with a fly-by-night outfit!"
Quality Linux & UNIX security and software consulting since 1990.
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