The main reason we have virus outbreaks is the way a lot of users click on email attachments and on programs they have just downloaded from the net. Users are warned time and time again, but they do it anyway. Once we get a large enough base of desktop linux users, we will have the same problems.
We are safe for now...
On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 5:53 PM, Thyge ltl.privat@gmail.com wrote:
"Imagine a world, where all windows installations have turned off their antivirus protection"!
Regards, Thyge
Den man. 7. maj 2018 kl. 17.09 skrev Shlomi Fish shlomif@shlomifish.org:
Hi Gabriel,
On Mon, 7 May 2018 14:02:44 +0100 Gabriel Thullen gabriel@thullen.com wrote:
I am also a Linux advocate, and have been so for years (decades?). That been said, I imagine that there are still more people using Windows XP
than
there are people using Linux. Last time I checked (october 2017) it was something like 5% using XP and less than 1% using linux, all distros included. We can safely predict that virus outvreaks will be a problem
for
linux once it reaches 5% or 10% market share...
Most linux viruses have never outbroke and never caused much harm. Linux can be susceptible to other forms of malware such as worms or rootkits, but it hasyet to exhibit a large scale virus epidemic and it isnt because it wasn't tried. Linux is an attractive target because many servers run on it. See also https://duckduckgo.com/?q=linux+viruses&ia=web
Regards,
Shlomi
Gabe
On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 1:51 PM, Shabab Mustafa <
shabab.mustafa@gmail.com
wrote:
I have been a Linux advocate for almost a decade now and from 'my
past
experience', I can tell you have opened a topic of a huge discussion
about
people should switch to Linux Desktops (which is off-topic here).
But I
respectfully disagree with your statement, "anti-virus programs
usually do
more harm than good".
From a conservative viewpoint, some protection is still better to
have
than
no protection at all. And the example you gave here, an anti-virus mistakenly classified your domain as a potential threat, makes a
weaker
point. By a few mistakes, we cannot cancel out a million of other successes. A false alarm is yet favourable than no alarm at all.
Shabab Mustafa President Wikimedia Bangladesh
On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 5:56 PM Shlomi Fish shlomif@shlomifish.org
wrote:
On Thu, 3 May 2018 19:27:16 -0500 John Bennett jbennett@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello,
Many of you may have been receiving emails in the last 24 hours warning
you
of "Multiple failed attempts to log in" with your account. I
wanted to
let
you know that the Wikimedia Foundation's Security team is aware
of
the
situation, and working with others in the organization on steps
to
decrease
the success of attacks like these.
The exact source is not yet known, but it is not originating from
our
systems. That means it is an external effort to gain unauthorized
access
to
random accounts. These types of efforts are increasingly common
for
websites of our reach. A vast majority of these attempts have
been
unsuccessful, and we are reaching out personally to the small
number of
accounts which we believe have been compromised.
While we are constantly looking at improvements to our security systems
and
processes to offset the impact of malicious efforts such as
these,
the
best
method of prevention continues to be the steps each of you take
to
safeguard your accounts. Because of this, we have taken steps in
the
past
to support things like stronger password requirements,[1] and we
continue
to encourage everyone to take some routine steps to maintain a
secure
computer and account. That includes regularly changing your
passwords,[2]
actively running antivirus software on your systems, and keeping
your
system software up to date.
From my experience, anti-virus programs usually do more harm than
good.
For
example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norton_AntiVirus recently
blocked
my entire shlomifish.org domain because it apparently misclassified
an
executable download as problematic (and it was built from source using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMake and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor so it is unlikely that that is the case.). MS Windows' poor
resistance to
malware and the fact that Windows Update is so dysfunctional (see http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Windows-Update/ ) are
the
reasons why I cannot recommend running it as a desktop, and instead one
should
use
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Desktop - desktop linux or
similar.
A little off topic perhaps, but needs to be said.
My team will continue to investigate this incident, and report
back if
we
notice any concerning changes. If you have any questions, please
contact
the Support and Safety team (susa{{@}}wikimedia.org).
John Bennett Director of Security, Wikimedia Foundation
requirements
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ChangePassword _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=
unsubscribe>
--
Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/ http://www.shlomifish.org/open-source/projects/fortune-mod/
If a tree falls down in the middle of the forest, and there’s no
one
there
to hear it… what colour is the tree? — Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge
Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post -
.
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=
unsubscribe>
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/
mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
--
Shlomi Fish http://www.shlomifish.org/ http://youtu.be/xZLwtc9x4yA - Anime in Real Life!! (Parody)
E‐mail, web feeds, and doing something productive — choose two.
Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply
.
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe