Can The Pandora Get Viruses?

[PoisonedV]

Yes, but why would someone make a virus for such a small market? Waste of time for whoever decides to do that.

+ you would have to be really stupid to activate such a virus and let it run on your Pandora.

Let's imagine that there is a virus specifically made for the Pandora.
In order to get it to "infect" the device, you have to follow the following steps:
1. Download the virus program
2. Save it to a trusted folder
3. Go into the terminal
4. Type "chmod +x virusfile" to activate the virus
5. Type "./virusfile" to run the virus
6. If you want the virus to be able to completely trash the device, and not just delete your personal files and folders, you have to do "su -c ./virusfile"
Now, I don't think that there would be a lot of people who would be willing to do that.

There is of course the possibility of having malicious PND files or .desktop files, but you can't really make an efficient virus protection system to counter that, and it wouldn't be worth it performance-wise even if you could.

This is the only way for viruses to get on your system? Don't some viruses automatically execute these 6 steps upon viewing/downloading? How many viruses are there for linux based systems? Is it as heavy as Windows, or as light as Leopard?

1. There are some others, but likely nothing (as far as viruses go) that will be able to do more than maybe restart you or freeze you up, mostly (as mentioned earlier) through exploits. You have to realize that linux runs very different fundamentally than windows especially with permissions.
2. I would hazard a guess to say a very small number, made even less by the fact that most of them have heavier overlap with exploits or things of that nature than straight up viruses.
3. Heavy as windows, light as leopard? That doesn't really make sense. Do you mean how simple is it? Well, it can be however simple or complicated you want it to be. Just like windows... and just like leopard, but if you haven't been curious enough to find out how to modify those i can't see you doing much to do so with the pandora

 

[aesir911]

This is the only way for viruses to get on your system? Don't some viruses automatically execute these 6 steps upon viewing/downloading? How many viruses are there for linux based systems? Is it as heavy as Windows, or as light as Leopard?

1. There are some others, but likely nothing (as far as viruses go) that will be able to do more than maybe restart you or freeze you up, mostly (as mentioned earlier) through exploits. You have to realize that linux runs very different fundamentally than windows especially with permissions.
2. I would hazard a guess to say a very small number, made even less by the fact that most of them have heavier overlap with exploits or things of that nature than straight up viruses.
3. Heavy as windows, light as leopard? That doesn't really make sense. Do you mean how simple is it? Well, it can be however simple or complicated you want it to be. Just like windows... and just like leopard, but if you haven't been curious enough to find out how to modify those i can't see you doing much to do so with the pandora

No, what I meant was are there a ton of viruses for linux like microsoft, or very few, like leopard.

[no problem PoisonedV]

 

[WizardStan]

No, what I meant was are there a ton of viruses for linux like microsoft, or very few, like leopard.

There were 2. They've been fixed. Have a nice day.

 

[PoisonedV]

This is the only way for viruses to get on your system? Don't some viruses automatically execute these 6 steps upon viewing/downloading? How many viruses are there for linux based systems? Is it as heavy as Windows, or as light as Leopard?

1. There are some others, but likely nothing (as far as viruses go) that will be able to do more than maybe restart you or freeze you up, mostly (as mentioned earlier) through exploits. You have to realize that linux runs very different fundamentally than windows especially with permissions.
2. I would hazard a guess to say a very small number, made even less by the fact that most of them have heavier overlap with exploits or things of that nature than straight up viruses.
3. Heavy as windows, light as leopard? That doesn't really make sense. Do you mean how simple is it? Well, it can be however simple or complicated you want it to be. Just like windows... and just like leopard, but if you haven't been curious enough to find out how to modify those i can't see you doing much to do so with the pandora

No, what I meant was are there a ton of viruses for linux like microsoft, or very few, like leopard.

Oh, god, sorry for misinterpreting you and being a douche then. Haha.

 

[Etinin]

It always depends on how the user operates the system.
If you install packages from a very obscure source which is making viruses aimed at the Pandora (how likely is that?), you can be infected. If you do ./bash someevil{script,executable}ofdoom as a standard user, you could lose personal files. If you do that as root, you could lose the system (shouldn't be much of a worry though, since the Pandora will be effectively unbrickable).

 

[zhasha]

It always depends on how the user operates the system.
If you install packages from a very obscure source which is making viruses aimed at the Pandora (how likely is that?), you can be infected. If you do ./bash someevil{script,executable}ofdoom as a standard user, you could lose personal files. If you do that as root, you could lose the system (shouldn't be much of a worry though, since the Pandora will be effectively unbrickable).

I finally understand why MS has made their FS drivers so unbearably slow. It's pure genius actually. That completely discourages someone from making the old deltree /y c: viral script. It'd get nowhere before someone caught it and stopped it.

 

[Skofo]

Yes, but why would someone make a virus for such a small market? Waste of time for whoever decides to do that.

+ you would have to be really stupid to activate such a virus and let it run on your Pandora.

Let's imagine that there is a virus specifically made for the Pandora.
In order to get it to "infect" the device, you have to follow the following steps:
1. Download the virus program
2. Save it to a trusted folder
3. Go into the terminal
4. Type "chmod +x virusfile" to activate the virus
5. Type "./virusfile" to run the virus
6. If you want the virus to be able to completely trash the device, and not just delete your personal files and folders, you have to do "su -c ./virusfile"
Now, I don't think that there would be a lot of people who would be willing to do that.

There is of course the possibility of having malicious PND files or .desktop files, but you can't really make an efficient virus protection system to counter that, and it wouldn't be worth it performance-wise even if you could.

Will I really have to go through all of that bullshit just to install/run something on the Pandora? I hope that Pandora's OS is more than just a terminal...

As for OP's question: yes, the Pandora can get viruses. Just make a file named 'game.sh', put 'rm -rf /' in it and you have a virus. However, instead of being worried about the possibility of a virus being made for the Pandora, you should be worried about the feasibility that it'll actually get anywhere worthwhile. A big reason why Windows is so virus-prone is because the only way to get almost any application for it is to get them from third parties which may or may not be malicious. However, almost all Pandora applications will presumably be in a centralized repository that nerds will be stalking like vultures. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

Yes, but why would someone make a virus for such a small market?

The same reason why anyone would make anything for such a small market.

 

[Kramy]

Will I really have to go through all of that bullshit just to install/run something on the Pandora? I hope that Pandora's OS is more than just a terminal interface...

As long as it's a virus.

If your program is stand-alone, though - like most games - then you can package all the required libs in the pnd, and it's just drag'n'drop "installation".

 

[Skofo]

Will I really have to go through all of that bullshit just to install/run something on the Pandora? I hope that Pandora's OS is more than just a terminal interface...

As long as it's a virus.

If your program is stand-alone, though - like most games - then you can package all the required libs in the pnd, and it's just drag'n'drop "installation".

Wait, libraries will be packaged with Pandora package files? There'll be a whole lotta space wasted if that is the case. Why not make it work like a conventional Linux package management system, where any libraries you're missing are downloaded from the repository?

 

[WizardStan]

Wait, libraries will be packaged with Pandora package files? There'll be a whole lotta space wasted if that is the case. Why not make it work like a conventional Linux package management system, where any libraries you're missing are downloaded from the repository?

No.
The intention seems to be that there will be a standard set of libraries, enough for some 99% of the apps you could ever want to run.
The last 1%, to avoid the need for the user to have to install the needed libraries, will include the libraries in the PND itself.
This is to help eliminate the classic "dependency hell": if you know the libraries that will be installed, or include the ones you know aren't, then everything works.

 

[j6cubic]

Actually, you can package all libraries except for those that come with the core OS with every application. OS X works like that and it works very well. You do lose a bit of storage but given modern storage devices it's not too serious. Yes, it's a bit annoying to have the GIMP come with 132 MiB of libraries but the GIMP depends on pretty much all of GNOME. As I'd imagine the base Pandora Ångström installation to already come with most GNOME libs that wouldn't be much of a problem.

In the end you sacrifice a bit of storage space for a reduced risk of dependency hell and the ability to completely obviate the need for package management. Whether or not the tradeoff is acceptable depends on the situation and the Pandora is admittedly not in the best position to sacrifice storage.


As for viruses: Not running as root does not provide absolute protection. The virus could use a local exploit to elevate its permissions or it could target a kernel security flaw in the first place. Those do occur. Straight viruses are still rare, though, as Linux malware tends more towards rootkits – those allow you to install and run software on the computer without the administrator knowing about it. That reflects not only Linux being a *nix but also the fact that Linux is most commonly found on servers.

The danger is really low, the Pandora using an easily reinstallable ARM linux, but nobody is truly immune unless their OS/computer combo is formally proven to be error-free and secure.

 

[fiveseven]

I finally understand why MS has made their FS drivers so unbearably slow. It's pure genius actually. That completely discourages someone from making the old deltree /y c: viral script. It'd get nowhere before someone caught it and stopped it.

So it's not a fault, it's a handy feature!