To be honest, antivirus software is just not really a security tool. If you’re at the point where malicious software is running on your server you’ve already lost and it’s hard to know what extent the damage will be. Having proper isolation is much more important (something which, tbh, Linux isn’t quite as great at as we’d like to think, at least not with additional effort… mobile operating systems seem to take the isolation of applications a lot more seriously). You could maybe argue that the anti virus software is useful for monitoring, but I’d rather have some stronger guarantees that my application isn’t going to take my lunch money and private keys than a notice a day later that something sketchy is on my machine… I won’t flat out say a virus scanner is completely useless, because of course you can contrive of scenarios where one could be helpful, but they’re kind of dubious.
Also yeah, ClamAV afaik isn’t really used like a typical windows antivirus. It’s mostly used on mail servers to scan email attachments. It’s not necessarily even looking for “Linux viruses”.
lal309@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Okay sure same thing as Windows. If you aren’t reckless with the things you install and run then you are likely fine BUT there’s always a chance. All it takes is one slip up. Same logic as having a lock in the door knob and a deadbolt. By your logic (and many others), the lock on the door knob is sufficient and that may be okay with you BUT I’m gonna put a deadbolt on too just in case.
We can argue about this all day long. You will have valid points and so will I.
just_another_person@lemmy.world 1 year ago
No…it’s not the same as Windows. The difference is a properly sandboxed execution of binaries. You can Google this, but you sound like you don’t care to understand why it’s different. TLDR: I think you misunderstand what a “server” is, and what a desktop is. Linux is not a server, it’s an Operating System.
lal309@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Okay cool. Thanks.
elephantium@lemmy.world 1 year ago
But would you put a deadbolt on your garage door? Or on your fridge door? IMO, arguing by analogy here just obfuscates the points – your servers aren’t physical doorways with locks, and comparing them just confuses the issue.
Can you explain what added security an antivirus package would offer for a Linux server? I haven’t done much with Linux administration, mostly just using Docker images for stuff at work.
I’m not a super Linux expert or anything, but I do grok tech, and I’m curious about this topic.
lal309@lemmy.world 1 year ago
How does it obfuscate the point? A layered approach to security.
elephantium@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Simple: Computers are not doors with locks. Antivirus is not a deadbolt, and IMO it’s really misleading to compare them. You’re trying to tell people in this thread that you need AV on Linux, against consensus, “because security”. I still don’t understand why you think it’s necessary. What’s your threat model? How does AV improve security on your servers in a way that a firewall doesn’t?