Critical Linux security API is still a kludge (Inquirer)

Posted Oct 23, 2006 20:36 UTC (Mon) by mrshiny (guest, #4266)
In reply to: Critical Linux security API is still a kludge (Inquirer) by MisterIO
Parent article: Critical Linux security API is still a kludge (Inquirer)

You may be right, in that users are responsible (i.e. they are the actors that perpetrate) poor security. However asking the whole world to change its behaviour is generally a hard task. Lots of people who might even be ripe for switching to Linux can't, because of a windows app they need. And some apps on Windows still require admin privs (Bad PalmDesktop! No desert for you). But the point is that even good habits and a non-root user isn't enough to prevent viruses. It's only a matter of time before macro viruses and the like make themselves known in the Linux world; these don't require root privs to spread or cause damage. And asking every user to manually scan every file is madness since you already know users are ignorant and forgetful.

Basically what I'm trying to say is, a virus scanner is not a bad thing. Sure, it isn't perfect, but it helps, and like you said, brings you statistically closer to "secure". Users will always be ignorant. The computer needs to account for that, not the other way around.