virus scan programs

[Louis LeBlanc]

On 09/05/03 09:32 AM, Lee_Shackelford at dot.ca.gov sat at the `puter and typed:
> Dear freeBSD enthusiast,
>      Greetings.  I am a newcomer to the BSD/Unix world.  My place of
> employment is a large agency with thousands of client machines.  Most of
> the clients use Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional operating system.  Most
> of the servers use either Novell operating system, or I.B.M. Domino
> operating system.  A very important ritual that each client computer
> performs every morning at boot-up time is to run a virus scan application
> program.  This program is run whether or not the user desires it, because
> it runs before the user us granted a log-on screen.  In my reading of Unix
> and BSD literature, I have found no mention of virus scan programs for
> these operating systems.  Do such programs not exist? Alternately, is the
> Unix/BSD approach to this problem in a different philosophical and/or
> procedural sphere?  If so, could you describe the Unix/BSD approach to
> locating and eradicating these invaders of one's hard drive?  If the issue
> is already explained in either printed literature, or posted at a world
> wide web site, it is sufficient to cite the location.  Many thanks for your
> response.

Viruses . . . virii?  whatever, are pretty much Bill Gates' gift to
the world.  For the most part, Unix operating systems have continued
to deprive the world of their joy in spite of their overwhelming
popularity.

The problems with *nix operating systems is more one of security and
administration.  It is easy to leave back doors open that would allow
unscrupulous individuals to wreak havoc on or through your system.
Some examples include telnet service, open ports that are not used or
needed, and OPEN MAIL RELAYS (yes, I am a card carrying spam hater).

Of course, these are pretty straightforward security issues, and
typically easily closed or controlled.  Not like the old MS
BackOrifice security problems or the new mail features that allows
anyone on the internet to execute code on your system before you know
what's happening.

I'd recommend starting with this:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/index.html

Chapter 3 will give you the Unix basics.

If you get a chance, 'The Complete FreeBSD' by Greg Lehey is very
good.  Better than good, in fact.  It explained a lot of things
clearly for me that even the protocol specific books couldn't make me
understand - like caching dns servers, which I never could get
running, even with the online handbook.  Can't wait to get my own copy.

HTH
Lou
-- 
Louis LeBlanc               leblanc at keyslapper.org
Fully Funded Hobbyist, KeySlapper Extrordinaire :)
http://www.keyslapper.org                     Ô¿Ô¬

hacker, n.:
  A master byter.