Linux / Anti Virus

[muskrat]

I am seeing web sites that advertize Anti Virus for Linux OS, example ( Kaspersky ).

I was under the impression that do to the nature of Linux OS it was more or less imune to viruses. Please correct me if I'm wrong. If I'm right then what is all this antivirus stuff for Linux going around.

This is the second or third site I've seen and I don't believe any were Open source (Freeware). :?:

[robbie_n]

Well, there are Linux viruses out there, and as so many "everyday" actions require the root password (eg. changing the time), admins are vulnerable.

The other danger is viruses targeting Windows users. A good reason to grab an antivirus product is to protect your Windows friends from being infected by viruses that you pass unknowingly to them.

Kapersky is good because it is memory-resident, but there are others, notably an Open Antivirus Project (http://www.openantivirus.org), which is free software.

[deafphate]

viruses are nothing but small amount of code that can exist inside of an application, the way *nix is locked down it would be harder for viruses to really harm a whole system, unless it catches an admin off guard, it is never a bad idea of having AV software availible if needed.