A history of viruses on Linux

“We recently gave you a brief history of viruses on the Mac and
as requested by a user we wanted to give you a history of viruses
on Linux. Given the tight security integrated into Linux, it is
difficult to take advantage of a vulnerability on the computer, but
some programmers have found ways around the security measures.
There are several free options for anti-virus on Linux that you
really should use, even if it isn’t always running – a weekly or
monthly scan doesn’t hurt. Free anti-virus solutions include:
ClamAV, AVG, Avast and F-Prot.

“1996:

“The cracker group VLAD wrote the first Linux virus named Staog.
The virus took advantage of a flaw in the Kernel that allowed it to
stay resident on the machine and wait for a binary file to be
executed. Once executed the virus would attach itself to that file.
Shortly after the virus was discovered the flaw was fixed and the
virus quickly became extinct. VLAD was also responsible for writing
the first known virus for Windows 95, Boza.”

Complete
Story