back to article Norton bans kernel.org

Bad news for Linux users: security suite Norton thinks that the Linux repository kernel.org is rife with threats. Norton Linux.org page Er, no Symantec's automated analysis system claims to have identified four threats to Norton users on the site and has red flagged it for anyone thinking of visiting. That will come as a …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Perfect example...

    ...why you shouldn't let others run your browser. In many cases black / white -lists are only hurting your options, nothing more or less.

    And just to explain how utterly ridiculous this is: kernel.org doesn't even run advertisements (#1 source of virusses and other nasty malware).

    Still.. I wonder if their javacode code has anything to do with this. Opera (developer mode) spots a lot of javascript code from an "unknown domain".

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: Perfect example...

      Still.. I wonder if their javacode code has anything to do with this. Opera (developer mode) spots a lot of javascript code from an "unknown domain".

      JavaScript is not Java.

  2. kain preacher

    See knew Linux was just full of viruses. Now what would be truly funny is if Norton blocked norton.com

  3. Herby

    Maybe they should label...

    Microsoft.com as a major virus threat. Look, it has infected millions of computers with this "Windows" virus, in many forms. Most lately in its most recent form "Windows 10".

    I'd label this with "Joke Alert", but I have doubts.

  4. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    It is a threat

    You are about to download software that will make our bugware unnecessary and you will stop paying us protection racket subscription. You think we will not flag THAT as a threat. It is a threat of course. To us, not you.

    1. Mark M.

      Re: It is a threat

      Kernel.org is only visited by those who roll their own Linux distros. So if they have a need to download stuff from that site, the odds are they are already on a Linux environment and wouldn't give a flying f**k about what Norton think.

      Now, if Norton blocked Ubuntu, Fedora or similar sites that have complete distros for downloading and replacing Windows with on the basis that the Linux distros were virus and trojan-riddled software packages, then that may be newsworthy of a moderate reader outrage among those who want to avoid Windows 10.

  5. Adam 52 Silver badge

    Just because it's kernel.org doesn't mean that it hasn't been compromised somehow. Unlikely I grant you but it'd be interesting to know what Norton thinks it's found before criticising. If you are going to run a heuristic checker (and previous Reg articles have said that signature only av is nearly useless) then there will be false alarms.

  6. d3vy

    It says it's found 4 threats.

    Seeing as the new super short article doesn't take the time to list what those might be could we assume that it MIGHT not be the site itself but something it is serving that it's not meant to?

    It's not beyond the realms of reason to think that someone might have fucked about hand have some page on the site spewing malware?

    I mean it's probably not, Norton is a bag of wank... but my point is it COULD BE, the should have elaborated on the reasons.

    1. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      Now it says "OK"

      https://safeweb.norton.com/report/show_mobile?name=kernel.org

      I don't know if it's possible to see what the threats are believed to be, while they are shown. You could try putting in a risky site name. Note that 4ch*n.*rg is also "OK" apparently, so goodness knows how bad it has to be.

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