Linux’s Malware Inevitability.

With malware becoming more common on Linux servers and as Linux on the desktop becomes more common its just a matter time before malware becomes more common on the Linux desktop.
But what can be done to help this down the road? I mean there's quite a bit of malware on Mac OS now and that's a Unix like OS. So what about Linux? This episode of Linux Unplugged talks about this.
Please share your thoughts.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xrmDLJNKbU

 

Because educating users is useless. I think the AV vendors need to come on board. But it's not worth it to them.

 

I don't think that number of malware matters that much. Basic security precautions don't change. Change my mind.

Number of malware variants only matters to those who do not follow security best-practices and precautions.

 

Oh you mean almost all Linux users.

 

Can you provide source of this statistics?

 

reasonablePrivacy has a point Linux users are going to have change their web surfing habits. Personally I'm careful about what sites I go to and also I surf the web from a non-admin account I use Firejail and I have the UFW enabled not mention I use Noscript and Ublock Origin in my browser.

 

Unless Linux commands a far bigger piece of the Desktop usage pie, I doubt it.

I jump between Windows and Linux frequently with the same surfing habits on both. In my case at least, no concerns whatsoever.

 

That's good because nothings bullet proof.
And with success of the Steam Deck Linux use is rising, but mainly through the Steam Deck.

 

That and keeping the distro up to date and installing from official repositories should easily keep you secure. My only extension is uBlockO. Firejail is used on a couple of utilities and apparmor on my browsers. Most people will see this as ridiculous, but I control outbound on UFW as well:

 

I honestly can't believe that these guys talked 1 hour about Linux malware? They seriously have got too much time. No matter if you're one Windows, macOS or Ubuntu, with the right security precautions it should be easy to stay safe. Of course on macOS and Ubuntu it should be even more easy because there is so little malware available for these platforms.

 

Agreed

 

I always keep my Ubuntu machines updated. Most Linux updates are quick and regular, so no problem. The first thing I do after booting is check for updates. I still see no need for an AV.

 

Any OS has vulnerabilities. The more popular Linux becomes, the more it will be targeted. It's a simple conclusion. Now I have no data to say if there is reason to be worried now, but it's never bad to be cautious.

 

I don't think the market share has changed for a decade. It's still less than 3%.

 

LLM!!!

 

True, but we never know. It may rise someday I remember a time Macs were dying. Now there are enough of them around that malware is popping out for them

 

On PC (laptop+desktop), yep.
On web servers it is major OS.
In the cloud for microservices it is dominating. Linux is essential for and almost synonymous with a lot of cloud use-cases.

I don’t think self-limiting things like not freely surfing the Web is a basic precaution.
Keeping system and browser up-to-date is. Not installing software from random places is also basic security precaution just as protecting credentials (passwords, PINs, keys).

 

They've been predicting the rise of Linux for twenty years. In twenty years it will be the same. Like Jetsons-style flying cars, they're always twenty years away. As for Mac popping 'malware'; there's always been Mac malware. Nothing's changed there either.

 

I know the internet virtually runs on Linux, but the desktop share is just under 3% I believe. It literally hasn't changed in two decades.

 

Are we talking iOS or OS X? Because according to this OS X is still only about 5.54%.
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share

 

Yeah, that sounds about right.

 

@ wat0114 Agreed keeping your system up to date is very important. And I use the default settings for UFW.

@ Rasheed187 You obviously didn't even listen a few seconds of the podcast because you would've realized that they spoke more then just Linux malware.

Also speaking of Linux malware there's this but I'm not sure if it affects Linux desktops or not?

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...vades-detection-using-multi-stage-deployment/

 

OSX. Apple nearly died a few years ago.

 

CVE-2021-4034 has been fixed in Debian (and derivates of course) long ago.
CVE-2021-3493 as well.

The fixes for these vulnerabilities are usually released immediately after discovery.
Not like in Windows (only monthly updates).