I'm running Linux (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, UNIX...) and cannot be infected with a virus. Right?
I'm running Linux (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, UNIX...) and cannot be infected with a virus. Right?
More often than not, with UNIX like operating systems, the problem is not malware as in “virus,” it is security: systems that are deployed and forgotten will get compromised.
Anything visible on the Internet will be attacked the moment it becomes visible, and it is the owners’ responsibility to secure their systems, keep them up to date, and be prepared to to delete and rebuild them if they are compromised.
Web servers are a particulary popular target, and applications like WordPress, Joomla and Drupal must be kept updated and patched at all times. Plugins are especially vulnerable. Many compromises are caused by poorly written PHP, and random scripts downloaded from the Internet.
The next most common issue is, it is not the device itself, but something behind it that is compromised. This usually means Firewalls, NAT gateways and VPN concentrators, guest Wi-Fi networks, etc.
- Firewalls should be configured on a basis of “open only the ports you need” rather than “close the ports you do not.”
- NAT Gateways should have firewall rules applied.
- VPN Concentrators should not allow VPN clients to access the internet, only the intranet. Many times, misconfigured VPNs mean that the server has been listed because the remote client is infected with malware.
- Guest Wi-Fi should never be allowed to share IP addresses with services that matter and permitting insecure protocols such as SMTP can and will result in problems.