first linux distro to need anti virus?
Is Android the first linux distribution to *really* need (good) anti virus? As a Linux user on both servers and desktops for more than 15 years now I can never recall ever needing to worry about viruses on Linux. Some folks liked to have AV on linux to prevent it from distributing windows viruses (file servers and stuff), but nothing that really impacted Linux itself (or at least my own personal/corporate systems).
I have only ever used Android for a few minutes but all of these news items about things exploiting Anrdroid are interesting.. I just did a search for Android Antivirus and saw mixed results (I also recall reading something recently saying how poor most of the Android AV was at catching stuff).
I'm thinking I'm going to be jumping from my WebOS-powered Pre3 to a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 in the next month or so.. so would be nice if El Reg could write, or someone to link to an article that talks about the *current* state of Android AV/Security (especially given this El Reg report comes from an AV vendor).
One of the advantages I suppose of being on WebOS (and Linux on the desktop) is of course it's a less attractive target for attacks given smaller market share obviously.. I've never really bought the argument that Linux doesn't need anti virus(desktop) for any reason other than that - really has little to do with how the OS is built since so much stuff(malware) runs unprivileged anyway (and has for a long time).
I can't honestly remember the last time I had a computer virus, even on Windows - I think the last time one of my computers was *infected* was probably 1992. I've encountered the occasional virus here and there since but nothing that seems to have caused an infection.