I was reading on the web that clamav is not an “endpoint antivirus solution” but at the same time its called the best antivirus for gnu/linux and gnu/linux servers. Is worth for a desktop/personal computer?
For the average home desktop/laptop user, you probably don’t need it. It won’t hurt, but unless you’re really downloading and executing random files off the internet, it won’t do much.
If you run a server that is publicly available on the internet that allows folks to upload files to it, then you will almost certainly want it.
Not really worth it unless you’re downloading attachments from spam emails or sketchy websites. It’s pretty dated tech - old school AV definitions, but there’s nothing better that’s free afaik
Backup your data so that you can restore what matters to you. There is no need for an antivirus on Linux if you stick to the distribution channels of your distribution because package are verified. Unlike in the close source world because the source of those packages are open, verifying, even though imperfect, is much simpler. Popular distributions, e.g. Debian or Redhat, have a very strong incentive not to let anything slip. Maintainer of packages also are able not just to track what changed but also by whom, that means if there is a problem it can be identified and attributed rather quickly and thus other maintainers can be warned. It is not impossible and supply chain attacks do happen, e.g. xz backdoor, but it is rare, specific and has been studied and thus partly alleviated even though it remains a challenge.
If you do download executables or binaries, not media e.g. videos or music, from random places though then all bets are off.
I’ve heard it is possible to put a virus even into an image, and I might actually be a victim of such an attack… But yeah, it is extremely rare
Targeting Linux distributions is even less likely because unlike Windows or MacOS there is no “official” viewer for a kind of document, being image, video, text, etc but rather only the one that the distribution picked but that even during the installation process the user might ignore or replace. So the attack on the media would have to work for any viewer which seems basically impossible.
Technically possible yes but practically impossible at scale, it would have to be targeting a specific user and then it’s a totally different situation.
I recommend this Lenspect on Linux. It uses VirusTotal API to scan files you select. It is available on Flathub with minimal permissions (basically just network permission to talk to VirusTotal).
Have a look at the following from the Easy Linux Tips Project.
Excellent…! Thank you.
clam-av is like an anti-virus condom – there are significantly better ways to protect yourself but if you’re not aware them, or don’t want to put in the effort, or just don’t want to bother for whatever reason; then it’s there and it’s better than nothing. lol
Lenspect or just VirusTotal
ClamUI on flathub
It is not worthy that it mainly is for windows malware and if you stick to your distro repositories you should be save
You do not need an antivirus
