There has been a lot of debate recently over whether or not it's a good idea to run an anti-virus program if you're using Linux. I hope to clear up a common misunderstanding: An anti-virus program running on Linux is designed to detect Windows viruses, so that they aren't spread, unknowingly, by the Linux user. This article explains when you should run a Linux anti-virus, and what exactly they do.

When a seasoned Windows user first migrates to Linux, the first question is always “where is the anti-virus?” I have been asked this question countless time and were always given the “you are lying to me” kind of look when I told them that they don’t need anti-virus software in Linux.

If Linux is hardly affected by viruses, why do system administrators use anti-virus software on their Linux email servers? Because an anti-virus scanner on a mail server can serve as another level of defense for Microsoft Windows desktop users.

Even though it's not really warranted because security is less of a problem with GNU/Linux but more importantly because we already have free software anti-virus solutions, McAfee is planning on jumping into the GNU/Linux market becuase of the growing number of MIDs running the Moblin Linux OS.

Several security firms are warning against a Beselo worm that targets Nokia 6630, 7610, 6680, and N70 smartphone models. A new mobile virus, referred to as the Beselo worm, has several security firms concerned about Nokia (NYSE: NOK) smartphones getting infected. One such firm, SMobile Systems, said it has issued a disinfection tool to contain the virus.
F-Secure, an anti-virus and intrusion prevention provider, first posted an alert regarding the virus in its blog last week. The virus is said to affect smartphones running the Symbian S60 Second Edition operating system.

In the most part, Linux is engineered in a fashion that makes it hard for viruses to run. Also, because more PCs currently run Windows, it is more worthwhile writing viruses for the Windows platform. However, there are many reasons you might want a virus scanner on your Linux PC:

Clam AntiVirus is an open source (GPL) anti-virus toolkit for UNIX, designed especially for e-mail scanning on mail gateways. It provides a number of utilities including a flexible and scalable multi-threaded daemon, a command line scanner and advanced tool for automatic database updates. The core of the package is an anti-virus engine available in a form of shared library.

Open source innovator and SNORT creator, Sourcefire, Inc., today announced that it has acquired ClamAV™, a leading open source gateway anti-virus and anti-malware project.

"In an exclusive report, Wikinews has learned that on Wednesday, January 16, 2008, two users, one anonymous and the other only known as MODX added code onto Wikipedia for a computer virus known as the LoveLetter virus or the ILOVEYOU virus..."