Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Beware - Devastating Trojan Ransomware

I will take this to a PM as it really doesn't belong in this forum.

Not a dig, but weren't you the one who jumped off line and and started searching for a fix a couple of months back when the big nasty effecting only OSX, Unix, and Linux hit the fan. Also the last I knew there were over 700 viruses and growing for Linux. It's not really any safer, especially when you open a link and ask for it.

This one Bash bug. Big nasty.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/unixlinux-bash-critical-security-hole-uncovered/

No, not guilty of this one. I really don't even remember it happening. Hug a jackass is my go to guy now that Les. Is overseas. Drop him a line and ask him.

I will say I have been using Ubuntu fly several years and have had no problems with it since I switched.

I am now running a duel boot system with Windows 7 and Ubuntu on the same computer. I do about 99.9% on Ubuntu but when I switch to Windows it is so slow it is sickening.

My mistake. CRS time I guess.
I'm outta this one. Wrong forum

the people who open email attachments are the same ones that wire money to nigerian lottery winners.

If you're running your Linux/Unix/Mac as an un-patched web server then yes, BASH is an issue. If you're running it as a normal type user browsing the fire and reading e-mail then not an issue.

Do not confuse "Virus'', "Maleware" and "Trojans" they are separate and distinct and dealt with differently. Yes, these all exist in the Unix world however in no case am I aware of can they run without you giving it your sys admin password. Not to say they won't be developed some day but not right now. Windows is very susceptible to many of these without you even being aware you've been had. It HAS gotten far better but there's a reason that companies make a lot of money with Antivirus software and cleaning up computers.

This from some who is a professional and architecting and deploying a global enterprise with north of 25,000 physical and virtual Linux and Windows servers and workstations that run Unix (whatever flavor including Mac OS X) is far more secure for the average user.

I'm no computer expert, I'm a mechanic. Linux has proved itself to be a great option to me for close to 10 years. Knoppix was the first version of linux I tried. Just a "live" cd that you could boot from and experiment with. What an amazing thing, an operating system running from a cd!! I tried to install it with some minor success. Then I used Mepis for a number of years until the maintainer had to get a real job.

In recent times I've used Mint (based on Ubuntu). Is it totally 100% secure? I doubt it. The bash vulnerability was a surprise to many but it was quickly patched. (When I checked my computer was not vulnerable to that bug. I don't really know if it was only attacking old versions of bash or ??) Computer operating systems have so many lines of code that nobody has 100% confidence. Is it more secure than windows? I'm absolutely sure of it. Bad guys want to maximize their efforts so they go for the big numbers of windows users. There have been a few reports of linux viruses but mostly in the computer lab. In the wild it's not a worry. I tried to install and use a virus program for the first few years of linux use, then I gave up, there was no problem to be found.

Yes, you can use a browser you're familiar with like Firefox or Chrome. You can sync your bookmarks over from the windows versions with xmarks or sync or others that I don't know about. Adblock works great in linux! Dual boot with windows is easily done by most of the installers.

A "live" linux cd or flash drive will allow you to access your data without starting windows or making a permanent change to your computer. You can recover data and save it to an external drive or the internet even if windows has croaked. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2147...ntu-can-help-a-computer-in-distress.html

The most amazing thing to me was how most versions of linux that I have tried can configure hardware on the fly. Only the most obscure printers and scanners require extra work to make them functional. Old stuff seems to work perfectly. Brand new may be more of a problem. I recently pulled the hard drive from my spare computer and put it in a computer with totally different hardware. It started and worked perfectly with all my bookmarks and data intact. Not gonna do that in windows.

It's fast and it's FREE! If you have an old computer or one that's giving you trouble please download and "burn" a live cd or flash drive of linux to try. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain!

I got the Cryptowall thing recently, it's BAD. I would rather have a case of the clap.

I had my work computer infected with a version of this virus today.

It was a brand new computer with work-related stuff only on it. I opened a couple of emails in Gmail, but no attachments, but did open a "news" article on Facebook. IT guys suspect it was the Facebook article that had the virus. Not gonna open any of THEM again!!

IT people are gonna wipe the hard drive and get it back to me in a couple days.

I recognise my laptop most days. I am anything but a computer Pro.

Just get an Apple McIntosh PC.

They don't get viruses and such.

Besides, Bill Gates gives $$$ to gun control initiatives.

Sm security for free without the cost of a new computer and Microsoft won't get a penny from you. Not saying anything bad about apple you just don't need to spend the money apple wants.

Now lets take this somewhere else and not clutter up the Gunwriters Forum.

Anyone use CryptoPrevent from Foolish IT as part of their defenses?

Went back to Norton because AVG was trash.
Also added Malwarebytes.


Wanna bet this is probably one of our own government agencies
pulling this crap ?