Virus software? do I need it?

[Chris Tyler]

On Wed, 2008-08-27 at 12:18 -0700, Jeffrey Engle wrote:
> Is virus software a must have? I'm trying Fedora 9, used Mac OS X for  
> years without it. What say you? Jeff

Jeff, if you've used OSX for years without antivirus software, then
you'll probably be comfortable running Fedora without it too. There have
been Linux viruses, but the usual open source response is to fix the
vulnerable software -- and quite quickly -- instead of creating virus
scanners and updating signatures. This is effectively treating the
sickness and not the symptom, and has generally worked well. In
addition, tools such as SELinux effectively reduce the attack surface
for viruses and malware. Of course, good system administration (leaving
SELinux on, updating frequently, using strong authentication, close
system monitoring, and so forth) is essential too.

(Most AV software I've seen for Linux concentrates on detecting Windows
viruses on shared storage and in e-mail).

-Chris