LinuxWorld (AU): Linux goes Unloved

[ Thanks to Anthony Rumble for this link.
]

“The “I LOVE YOU” virus has hit Microsoft Outlook users around
the world with anything but love. Once opened as a Visual Basic
Script attachment by an Outlook mail client, the virus is executed
on the local machine. It affects image and music files, such as
JPEGs and MP3s, and also tries to download malicious software from
around the Internet, to allow crackers to enter affected systems.
At the same time, the virus mails itself to all addresses in the
Outlook address book.”

“Outlook Express does not run under Linux. Linux e-mail clients,
in fact, do not and cannot execute Visual Basic Scripts. “In no
way, shape or form is Linux affected by this virus,” said Andrew
Polowczyk, System Technician Pacific Internet. The popular mail
clients which run under Linux – Pine, Mutt, Elm, the Netscape and
Mozilla mail clients – can be made to execute attachments but this
does not occur by default. So far, Linux software developers
have kept ideas like this in mind, so that they can pre-empt
malicious intent, such as “I LOVE YOU.”

Complete
Story