[LAD] Linux Malware

[Gabriel M. Beddingfield]

On 03/23/2012 07:15 PM, David Robillard wrote:
>
> Windows, on the other hand, traditionally had users running with
> complete access to the system.  Add to the mix notoriously flaky
> low-quality code, slow moving development, and a core system built from
> numerous layers of piled legacy crap, and it'd be shocking if exploits
> *didn't* run rampant.
>
> Anyone claiming that any system would have been as badly affected in
> Windows' situation has no idea what they're talking about.  The system
> essentially didn't have any form of security whatsoever.  The security
> model wasn't flawed, it *wasn't there*.  You didn't have to exploit the
> system to get viruses and malware on it, you just had to get the user to
> run something.

In all fairness... the situation in Windows is getting better while the 
situation in Linux is getting more relaxed.  When it comes to the user 
experience, Win7 and Ubuntu now have more or less the same security 
model WRT doing administrator tasks (asking for a password, sudo-style). 
  And even in Windows XP you *could* do it right (don't run as admin), 
but several applications forced people to do it wrong... and the default 
was to run as admin.

So now the difference is mainly that *nix has execute permissions on files.

Everything else is converged or converging.(*)

-gabriel