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It is common knowledge that Linux users needn't worry about viruses because users don't run as root. I've never understood the reasoning behind this. Here are a few of the malicious things that a program can do without being root on Ubuntu 8.10:
Once malware has its grubby code all over your home folder, you are one fake dialog box away from giving it complete control over your system:
If you have ever run a program or script that wasn't included in your distribution, then you could have been infected with malware. (You weren't.)
Ubuntu in particular must be very enticing for malware writers, because:
Is 2009 the year of the linux desktop malware? How long until we see headlines like, "Researchers find massive botnet based on linux 2.30"?
Add an entry to .config/autostart
Change a line in .mozilla/firefox/*/prefs.js
Add a file to .local/share/applications
Putting them in .gnome2/system32 seems somehow appropriate
Just pick a port above 1024, and update the firewall with uPnp
put it in .mozilla/firefox/*/extensions/
call it "Ubuntu System Integration Plugin Helper"
If you are interested in more examples, The Malware Project (PDF) is a great read that takes you step by step through an actual social engineering experiment with users. The results will surprise you.
top, ps, and System Monitor with exact clones that neglect to display your processes. This is much easier than hacking up the Windows Task Manager internal memory. Or just do everything in kernel mode for ultimate captcha cracking, DDOS power.
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So unless 2009 is also the year of the linux desktop in a big way...
Once Linux catches a significant market share, less technically informed users will use it. They are obvious targets for social engineering and malware scams.
It's still more difficult to install malware by the commandline. People that actually tinker with sources.list and terminal commands are expected to have a greater understanding of involved risks.
However with new users, this won't be the case. As you describe, some with copy and paste code and commands from formus/bbs.
There is nothing we can do about that. It's inevitable. Maybe the major forums are self-regulating, and malware trickery won't have as a large impact as with the Windows environment. Still, some user education might be in order. As you conclude, we are absolutely unprepared for when that starts.
Are people out there that dumb? You've just made a very short list of how easy it is to install malware to keylog someone's banking info if they wanted on linux and it doesn't sink in. Great article!
Statistically if I chose to write for say opensuse, then I infect a few opensuse users. Not to mention a patch will come out as soon as its detected. A virus can be written but its damage will be contained, so quickly and easily.
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