ZDNET UK: Linux viruses from China predicts Russian expert

“A Russian anti-virus expert has warned that an influx of
viruses targeted at the Linux operating system (OS) is on its way
courtesy of hackers in China.”

“Eugene Kaspersky, founder of Kaspersky Lab Anti-Virus in
Moscow, says the increasing popularity of the open source
operating system in the West, combined with the dramatic uptake of
Linux in China, will result in a plague of Linux viruses spreading
their way across the globe….“

“But while Kaspersky warns of imminent doom for the open source
phenomenon, Jason Clifford, Linux developer and consultant, thinks
the threat is overblown. He points out that the file system in
Linux is structured to make it more difficult for malicious code to
spread. “Because Linux is based on Unix, it is much more strict
about file permissions. In order for a virus to have a real effect
it would require someone to be stupid enough to run (log in) as
root. On a system with 1000 users, if one user were to compile a
virus he would damage his own files but no anyone else’s.”

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