Viruses On UNIX Operating System
virus works by replicating inside programs. Each infected program then viruses can
be used to spread an attack throughout a system or network. A spreads the virus
further. The UNIX protection mechanisms are inadequate for virus defense. Unix has
the reputation of being " not so buggy", and of being a good maintainer of system
sanctity via good protection mechanisms. A few years ago tom duff created a very
persistent UNIX virus. the virus lived in the slack space at the end of the executable,
and changed the entry point to itself. When the program was executed, it searched the
current directory, subdirectories , /bin/usr/bin for writable, uninfected files and then
infected them if there was enough space.
A channel(or a mechanism) used by virus to
spread is called a vector. There is no dearth of potential vectors on UNIX(for
example, buffer overflow vulnerabilities).