Why is Linux considered to be safer then Windows??

[dave4shmups]

I've never used Linux before, but people keep saying that it's safer and more secure then Windows, when it comes to things like viruses.  What is it about Linux that makes it safer?

[Princess Luna]

Because so little people use it compared to Windows that scammers and hackers don't even waste time with it and only target the big platforms like windows and mac.

[Mooshi]

Because no one uses Linux as much compared to Windows. 

 

Less users = less targeting

[Phentos]

Most viruses are written with a .exe executable file to be run by the unsuspecting user.

 

Linux does not use the .exe format to execute programs, therefore it's practically immune to that kind of malware.

 

However malware designed to run on Linux will definitely infect a Linux system if the user is not aware of it.

[babadoctor]

1 minute ago, Phentos said:

Most viruses are written with a .exe executable file to be run by the unsuspecting user.

 

Linux does not use the .exe format to execute programs, therefore it's practically immune to that kind of malware.

 

However malware designed to run on Linux will definitely infect a Linux system if the user is not aware of it.

Well, I mean, isn't it kinda obvious?

[Phentos]

Just now, babadoctor said:

Well, I mean, isn't it kinda obvious?

Well yea. But so many people think Linux (and Mac) are immune to all malware.

[babadoctor]

5 minutes ago, Phentos said:

Well yea. But so many people think Linux (and Mac) are immune to all malware.

As soon as you call something "immune" to malware, there will be people that make malware specifically for it

[TheCatWithAPlanYT]

may i ask why my comment was deleted?

[Phentos]

1 minute ago, babadoctor said:

As soon as you call something "immune" to malware, there will be people that make malware specifically for it

Exactly.

 

Nothing is immune to malware. People who think that are delusional or uninformed.

[nobiggieBIG]

UNIX. Unix when it was first created was perfect, no ram leaks or other problems. 

DOS. Ram leaks and other problems occured with DOS. But because if things were to be changed every old program would be rendered useless.

 

Its completely about how easy it is.

 

It has nothing to do with targeting.

 

iPhones are harder to infect because all the apps are sandboxed, but iphones take up a large percentage. How well a system is coded also affects.

[Orangeator]

8 minutes ago, Phentos said:

Exactly.

 

Nothing is immune to malware. People who think that are delusional or uninformed.

Very true, however, people who use Linux tend to know more of what they are doing when it comes to PC's and software... Thus they are way less likely to be infected by doing something stupid on the internet.

[nobiggieBIG]

1 minute ago, Orangeator said:

Very true, however, people who use Linux tend to know more of what they are doing when it comes to PC's and software... Thus they are way less likely to be infected by doing something stupid on the internet.

Whilst this is true, people with knowledge of the internet wont click on those 'win free ipad' pop ups.

[Phentos]

Just now, Orangeator said:

Very true, however, people who use Linux tend to know more of what they are doing when it comes to PC's and software... Thus they are way less likely to be infected by doing something stupid on the internet.

Less so for so many Mac users.

 

MacOS shares the same DNA as Linux, but yet you have legions of Mac zealots preaching about Mac being immune to malware.

[SCHISCHKA]

theres plenty of malware designed for your modem & router. Ransomware runs on linux network devices to infect both windows and linux fileservers. however it is safer for several reasons other than market share because that market share argument is not applicaable where so many modems, routers, servers & NAS are running linux. Microsoft was too slow to implement user admin controls for home users; default XP login ran as admin; everyone rejected UAC on vista, but it was done better on both linux and mac by default. User super user escalation is still done better on linux and mac as it requires a password and no credentials are stored on microsoft's cloud or sent over the network. There is a zero day exploit in microsoft's networking, i cant remember its name right now, it exploits user credentials that get sent through a microsoft domain.

 

I guess it comes down to respect for privacy, public ownership of source code, open auditing of code, university and government research contributions

[SCHISCHKA]

2 minutes ago, Phentos said:

Less so for so many Mac users.

 

MacOS shares the same DNA as Linux, but yet you have legions of Mac zealots preaching about Mac being immune to malware.

Apple wrote the CUPS printer server and only has a few open source tools included. I wouldn't call the POSIX standard the same DNA when it comes to exploits

[Electronics Wizardy]

39 minutes ago, Phentos said:

Most viruses are written with a .exe executable file to be run by the unsuspecting user.

 

Linux does not use the .exe format to execute programs, therefore it's practically immune to that kind of malware.

 

However malware designed to run on Linux will definitely infect a Linux system if the user is not aware of it.

linux has there own executable files

 

But normally its much harder to get root access on the system. Also normally its more work to get code executed(double clicking doesn't normally do anything)

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

40 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

Because no one uses Linux as much compared to Windows. 

 

Less users = less targeting

More systems run linux than windows.

 

Cars, phones(andriod), most servers, routers, switches,embedded systems mostly all run linux. Just because its not the most common desktop platform, don't  make it a more popular os.

[SCHISCHKA]

13 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

More systems run linux than windows.

 

Cars, phones(andriod), most servers, routers, switches,embedded systems mostly all run linux. Just because its not the most common desktop platform, don't  make it a more popular os.

and people are not aware how vulnerable their 10 year old modems from their ISP are

[babadoctor]

2 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

and people are not aware how vulnerable their 10 year old modems from their ISP are

I wonder, how would one go about detecting if their router was infected by malware?

 

Just scan it with wireshark? 

 

How would you know in the first place? (you probably wouldn't suspect it)

[SCHISCHKA]

Just now, babadoctor said:

I wonder, how would one go about detecting if their router was infected by malware?

 

Just scan it with wireshark? 

 

How would you know in the first place? (you probably wouldn't suspect it)

i see most complaints are related to DNS settings. reminds me of an outfit in one of the ex-soviet countries that were running their own DNS servers and replacing advertising on web sites. they made millions and their governement sent in attack helicopters to shut them down. then there was one last year in germany where a ton of modems died due to a mass infenction. I use open DNS and their welcome page as my browser homepage as a precaution. the other one is change the default admin password on the router which no one does. I guess you could run a proxy and do some packet recording but that would take a lot of time. Im surprised no major AV company has introduced a commercial firewall appliance into the residential market yet. Theres a few small companies that produce modems with custom firmware but you dont really hear about them

[babadoctor]

1 minute ago, SCHISCHKA said:

i see most complaints are related to DNS settings. reminds me of an outfit in one of the ex-soviet countries that were running their own DNS servers and replacing advertising on web sites. they made millions and their governement sent in attack helicopters to shut them down. then there was one last year in germany where a ton of modems died due to a mass infenction. I use open DNS and their welcome page as my browser homepage as a precaution. the other one is change the default admin password on the router which no one does. I guess you could run a proxy and do some packet recording but that would take a lot of time. Im surprised no major AV company has introduced a commercial firewall appliance into the residential market yet. Theres a few small companies that produce modems with custom firmware but you dont really hear about them

Yeah, but you couldn't access the modem remotely to log into it...

It simply wouldn't be possible..!

Even if you had control over another computer in the network (not screensharing) it would be impossible!

 

[SCHISCHKA]

4 minutes ago, babadoctor said:

Yeah, but you couldn't access the modem remotely to log into it...

It simply wouldn't be possible..!

Even if you had control over another computer in the network (not screensharing) it would be impossible!

 

yes you can. the most common access is through the web browser of your computer, and like i said not many change the default admin password. all you need to do is know an exploit to run code and you can make it do whatever you want. they are also being used for DDoS. also some routers have telnet, when i was on ADSL my ISP modem had telnet but not ssh.

[babadoctor]

Just now, SCHISCHKA said:

yes you can. the most common access is through the web browser of your computer, and like i said not many change the default admin password. all you need to do is know an exploit to run code and you can make it do whatever you want. they are also being used for DDoS. also some routers have telnet, when i was on ADSL my ISP modem had telnet but not ssh.

log in

if the user of the computer sees their mouse go to 192.168.1.1 and start trying to log in, they will see something is up

[Mooshi]

30 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

More systems run linux than windows.

 

Cars, phones(andriod), most servers, routers, switches,embedded systems mostly all run linux. Just because its not the most common desktop platform, don't  make it a more popular os.

Yes, but most average users on the desktop side of things uses a Windows desktop or laptop more than Linux based OS and that's what most of the nasties on the internet target. 

[SCHISCHKA]

Just now, babadoctor said:

log in

if the user of the computer sees their mouse go to 192.168.1.1 and start trying to log in, they will see something is up

thats not how it works. look up CVE and router or ADLS and you will see examples