Types of attack

Ransomware exists on Windows that encrypts a user's data files, then asks for a payment for the key to decrypt this data - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransomware_%28malware%29 - it's been around for 20 years now, and a more recent example from July is here: http://www.sans.org/newsletters/newsbites/newsbites.php?v...

These show that home directories are of interest to malware writers, quite apart from scanning for passwords, financial information, etc. There is no reason why these attacks could not hit Linux, particularly through cross-platform browser/Flash exploits.

Blanket statements on the intentions of attackers aren't very useful - there are many sorts of attackers out there.