Some of the recent press regarding the "Goner" e-mail virus has brought about interesting commentary from antivirus manufacturers. It seems that a number of these folks feel that Linux viruses soon will be rampaging through the Internet alongside their Windows brethren. . . .
Some of the recent press regarding the "Goner" e-mail virus has brought about interesting commentary from antivirus manufacturers. It seems that a number of these folks feel that Linux viruses soon will be rampaging through the Internet alongside their Windows brethren.

Don't hold your breath.

Why? Is Linux totally impervious to an e-mail virus? In theory, no. But in practice, it comes close.

The current crop of e-mail viruses relies heavily on the knowledge that most people are using the exact same e-mail client: Microsoft's Outlook. With that knowledge, virus creators can focus on a single attack vector, capitalizing on the fact that Outlook allows incoming messages to be executed as programs. These programs can manipulate files on the recipient's system and mail themselves to other poor souls in the receiver's address book.

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