Linux certainly is not immune to malware in general or even `viruses` in particular, but a virus isn't a very effective means of attacking "Linux." While it's u

Linux certainly is not immune to malware in general or even `viruses` in particular, but a virus isn't a very effective means of attacking "Linux." While it's usually used as a catch all for any malware, a virus is a specific type of malware. It needs to be able to infect a machine then spread. Most Linux installations use a security model that requires an administrative (root or sudo) password to install software. The biggest challenge that virus authors have when targeting "Linux" is the wide range of distros. When you target Windoze you can write a .exe file and convince your victim to execute it. What type of file would you use to attack Linux users? If they use RPM, you could use a .RPM file. If they use Debian or Ubuntu, you could provide a .deb file. If you are attempting to send your virus to every email address in the victim's address book, you would need to know the package manager of the victim before deciding which attack package to distribute. Certainly, you could distribute the package as a script which determines the OS then grabs the appropriate package from a repository and installs it, but then you're exposing a lot of information about your attack to every victim. Eventually someone catches it. So no Linux is not immune to viruses, but it's more the platform than the audience that prevents these attacks. When you want to attack Linux users, use a rootkit instead. Actually... please don't attack Linux users, there are enough Windoze users out there, and you shouldn't attack them either... because... ethics