LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Bryan Wetton <bryanw@box.net.au>
  To  : Linuxsa <linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au>
  Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 20:38:53 +0930

Interesting read 2

SAFER LINUX

Most of the viruses you hear about are targeted at Windows. This 
makes perfect sense, since most of the desktop computers in the 
world run Windows. But as more and more desktop systems run the 
open-source Linux, it makes sense that we're going to see an 
increasing number of Linux viruses.

Symantec and Bell Labs sense a market opportunity (yet one more 
way to make money off free software). For Symantec's part, 
there's now a Norton Anti-Virus for Linux. And Lucent 
Techologies's Bell Labs has released software that keeps 
intruders from overflowing an application's buffer memory -- a 
favorite way hackers can get control of Linux machines. The Labs 
is talking to major Linux licensees about encorporating the 
software -- called Libsafe -- in standard Linux distributions.

Why is this important? Because for Linux to succeed, it's going 
to have make significant inroads in corporations. And no 
corporate IT department is going to allow Linux near its systems 
without (among other things) a reasonable expectation that it's 
safe and someone to blame if something goes wrong. Norton and 
Bell Labs are both blue chip brands with a long track record. 
Having them in the Linux camp can only help.

Libsafe:
http://www.bell-labs.com/org/11356/libsafe.html

Regards
Bryan Wetton
Adelaide SA
http://www.box.net.au/~bryanw/
'A Southerner from the North'

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