First, it’s open source, which in and of itself is a big win. There are a few reasons why ClamAV is so popular among the Linux crowd. Without a doubt, ClamAV is the most popular option for keeping viruses off of your Linux machines and out of your shared directories. With all of that said, what are your options? Let’s take a look at a few tools, offered for the Linux platform, that do a good job of protecting you (and your users) from viruses, malware, and rootkits. Similarly, if that Linux machine performs as a mail server, you would be remiss to not include AV scanning (lest your users be forwarding malicious mail). Do you really want to take the chance that your Samba share directory could be dishing out files that contain malicious code? If that should happen, your job becomes exponentially more difficult. Let me put it simply - if your server (or desktop for that matter) makes use of Samba or sshfs (or any other sharing means), those files will be opened by users running operating systems that are vulnerable.

It’s antivirus and anti-malware where admins start getting a bit confused. So why does Linux need tools to prevent viruses, malware, and rootkits? It should be obvious why every server needs protection from rootkits - because once you are hit with a rootkit, all bets are off as to whether you can recover without reinstalling the platform. The lesson? Even Linux can be vulnerable. I’ve been a victim of a (very brief) hacker getting onto my desktop, because I accidentally left desktop sharing running (that was certainly an eye opener). I have witnessed, first hand, Linux servers hit by rootkits that were so nasty, the only solution was to reinstall and hope the data backup was current. Although Linux is less prone to such attacks than, say, Windows, there is no absolute when it comes to security. Whether a machine is online or offline, it can fall victim to malicious code. Perhaps a bit of clarification is necessary here.įirst and foremost, no operating system is 100 percent immune to attack. Wait, Linux needs antivirus and anti-malware solutions? I thought it was immune to such things.

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