Fighting malware with static and dynamic code analysis
Code Patrol
Linux offers some sophisticated tools for understanding how malware can slip through the gaps in an unsuspecting application.
The potential danger of malware is a concern for many computer users. Your desktop PC, your smartphone, and even the networked smart gadgets around your home or office are potentially vulnerable to thousands of rootkits, spyware, and Trojans. As anti-malware software developers create new methods to discover and block malware, malware authors create new methods of circumventing these safeguards.
Linux users have long enjoyed the minimal attention they receive from malware authors. Malware does exist for the Linux platform, but it has a difficult time infecting most Linux systems. A major strength of open source software is the speed with which exploit-causing bugs are noticed, diagnosed, and fixed. This rapid response limits the time interval in which malicious software can exploit these vulnerabilities. Unless malware can somehow trick a user with a superuser account into installing it, or the system is not properly configured or updated, it often has difficulty infecting Linux.
Windows users have not been so lucky. More than a billion PCs running various flavors of Windows exist worldwide, and such a large installed base of similar software makes it a very tempting target for malware authors. The large size and complexity of the Windows codebase, as well as delays in the availability of patches for issues, provides ample opportunity for vulnerabilities to be discovered and exploited by malware authors.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
EndeavorOS Mercury Neo Available
A new release from the EndeavorOS team ships with Plasma 6.3 and other goodies.
-
Fedora 42 Beta Has Arrived
The Fedora Project has announced the availability of the first beta release for version 42 of the open-source distribution.
-
Dash to Panel Maintainer Quits
Charles Gagnon has stepped away as maintainer of the popular Dash to Panel Gnome extension.
-
CIQ Releases Security-Hardened Version of Rocky Linux
If you're looking for an enterprise-grade Linux distribution that is hardened for business use, there's a new version of Rocky Linux that's sure to make you and your company happy.
-
Gnome’s Dash to Panel Extension Gets a Massive Update
If you're a fan of the Gnome Dash to Panel extension, you'll be thrilled to hear that a new version has been released with a dock mode.
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.