Spyware on FreeBSD?

[lars]

Gayn Winters wrote:
> I was wondering if anyone had had any trouble with spyware on their
> FreeBSD systems, or if we are too small a group of consumers for the
> spyware vendors to attack?
So far I don't think I have spyware on my machine,
but since I don't strictly monitor my net traffic and
since I haven't reviewed the source code of my installed programs
(or the FreeBSD source, for that matter)
I don't know for sure.


> How immune is a FreeBSD system from spyware?  
As secure as the "weakest" software you're running on it.

> For sure, we should all be
> following the standard advice of NEVER surfing the web using the root
> account!  
But you probably install software with root privileges.

> Thus a modification of this question is: if we do not surf the
> web using root, can we still get infected with spyware?
Yes, if the software you use has a vulnerability and
yes, if the software you're installing has spyware in it,
then it will be installed with the privileges you use for
installation.

Regards,
lars.