Linux and Spywares - lack of reading

[Jeff Vian]

On Tue, 2005-02-15 at 19:41 -0800, jdow wrote:
> From: "jdow" <jdow at earthlink.net>
> > From: "Jeff Vian" <jvian10 at charter.net>
> > > On Tue, 2005-02-15 at 17:13 -0800, jdow wrote:
> > > > From: "David Curry" <dsccable at comcast.net>
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > jdow wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > >Of course you do know of the recent exploits found for Mozilla,
> > aren't
> > > > > >you, Brian? What's this "No antivirus needed" I hear about for
> Linux?
> > > > > >
> > > > > >{^_-}   The quibbler.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > "Recent exploits found for Mozilla" is news here.  Care to elaborate
> > or
> > > > > point me in the right direction?
> > > >
> > > > Ran across it in the Dartmouth IRIA news summaries yesterday. It's
> > > > scrolled off. It appears to affect the core of Mozilla so it affects
> > > > FireFox as well. It should appear in the CERT advisories.
> > > >
> > > > It appears Mozilla is getting more attention from crackers now that
> > > > it is starting to command a noticeable market share. It's a matter of
> > > > time before more serious items appear. Of course, without things like
> > > > ActiveX it's a little harder to mash a Linux machine than a Windows
> > > > machine.
> > > >
> > > > {^_^}
> 
> They had another reference today - it was a spyware application. If a
> spyware can be tossed onto the machine then a rootkit can, also.
> 
> http://news.com.com/Spyware+takes+aim+at+Mozilla+browsers/2100-7349_3-5569635.html
> 
> {^_^}
> 
And you are implying that the only platform running mozilla/firefox in
Linux?  As that article states, the spyware referenced is attacking the
Windows platforms that have moved from IE to mozilla.

"Writers of viruses and spyware for browsers have typically concentrated
on Internet Explorer, because of its near-total market dominance. But
that could be changing now that Firefox is making gains at the expense
of Microsoft's browser."

It is obvious that Windows is still vulnerable.  Much more so than
Linux. Sure rootkits exist, but they are not needed on Windows with it's
already major security holes.

Please try to put your FUD comments in context.  ROFLMAO