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TL;DR - What are you running as a means of “antivirus” on Linux servers?

I have a few small Debian 12 servers running my services and would like to enhance my security posture. Some services are exposed to the internet and I’ve done quite a few things to protect the services and the hosts. When it comes to “antivirus”, I was looking at ClamAV as it seemed to be the most recommended. However, when I read the documentation, it stated that the recommended RAM was at least 2-4 gigs. Some of my servers have more power than other but some do not meet this requirement. The lower powered hosts are rpi3s and some Lenovo tinys.

When I searched for alternatives, I came across rkhunter and chrootkit, but they seem to no longer be maintained as their latest release was several years ago.

If possible, I’d like to run the same software across all my servers for simplicity and uniformity.

If you have a similar setup, what are you running? Any other recommendations?

P.S. if you are of the mindset that Linux doesn’t need this kind of protection then fine, that’s your belief, not mine. So please just skip this post.

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[-] tuff_wizard@aussie.zone 25 points 1 year ago

I think you’re about to find out that the “belief” that Linux doesn’t need antivirus isn’t just held by everyone in this community, it’s held by the whole Linux community. Hence there being no active projects in the space.

Heck you almost don’t need any antivirus in windows anymore. Just windows defender and half a brain when it comes to what you download.

[-] peter@feddit.uk 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't really understand that belief. There is plenty of Linux malware especially targeting servers, you just need to have an unsecure service running to find that out

[-] skilltheamps@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

What happens in the Windows world: Microsoft is not capable of creating and distributing a patch timely. Or they wait for "patch day", the made up nonsense reason to delay patches for nothing. Also since Windows has no sensible means of keeping software up to date, the user itself has to constantly update every single thing, with varying diligence. Hence Antivirus: there is so much time between a virus becoming known and actual patches landing on windows, that antivirus vendors can easily implement and distribute code that recognizes that virus in the meantime.

What happens in the linux world: a patch is delivered often in a matter of hours, usually even before news outlets get to report about the vulnerability.

[-] peter@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

Zero days aren't the only way you get viruses. Misconfiguration and social engineering are both vectors that are OS agnostic.

[-] tuff_wizard@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

But do antivirus really help with that? Is it going to check for open ports and see if the service listening has a strong password?

You can’t program against social engineering or missconfiguration, and because those are the only real vulnerabilities in Linux there’s no need for antivirus.

[-] peter@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

No but it can't do that on Windows either, all it can do is detect an infection and attempt to remove it. Same process would be applicable on Linux.

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this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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