Linux infection proves Windows malware monopoly is over

[Mike Oliver]

Quoting Lennart Sorensen <lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org>:

> On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 11:54:56AM -0400, Digimer wrote:
>> This isn't a virus in the traditional sense. It didn't spread, it was
>> embedded in a package. It's still a big deal, but it should be discussed
>> for what it is.
>
> And it only has access as the user you ran the server as.  Now if you
> ran it as root, then you are of course an idiot. :)

Well, there's plenty of nasty stuff a program can do with just the
privileges of the sole non-root user of a typical home system.  For example,
it could look in your .mozilla tree and grab your passwords, unless you have
them encrypted.  You *should* have them encrypted, of course.  But what
fraction of users really do?  It's an extra hassle.


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