[DONE] ClamAV - Do I need it?

[Germ]

I've been running Linux since 1998. Never had a problem with any kind of malware. Never done anything other than run rkhunter occasionally.

I do not run a mail server or anything like that. With that said, malware is supposedly on the rise in Linux. Do I need ClamAV?

Your thoughts?

[sturmvogel]

From https://docs.clamav.net/

ClamAV is an open source (GPLv2) anti-virus toolkit, 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.

Tip: ClamAV is not a traditional anti-virus or endpoint security suite. For a fully featured modern endpoint security suite, check out Cisco Secure Endpoint. See "related products", below, for more details.

[Germ]

Its not just for email scanning. You can scan files and directories with it, as well.

At least, everything I have read says you can.

[magic]

I use ClamAV periodically to scan through files.
I interact with several MSWin users so it's mostly to catch anything that might impact them, but a bit of peace of mind is always nice, too.

It's quite fast when you use it multithreaded. I don't feel the need to have any sort of continuous scanning (it does seem to support that to some degree) at this time, just a scan of what I want when I want.

I'd say due consideration should be given to the louder argument if Wine is installed, though.

[isadora]

agree.

there are those that consider using AV of any sort increases the "exposure" to malicious intent => https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... urity.html.
(poses as an expert, who am I to judge)

[Germ]

OK, thank you all.

Not many replies, but we agree. I don't need to worry about it. That's what I was thinking. Just wanted some other viewpoints.