For those who are wondering, yes, Wine is malware compatible so be careful about the EXEs you run!
this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023
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People say this but I don't think it's true. The vast majority of internet servers run on Linux and they are much higher-value targets than your laptop. It is more secure than windows, not just because of the smaller user base. However you're right of course that you can still get viruses.
Which part are you saying isn't true?
That the lack of Linux viruses is mostly/specifically due to lower user base. It's probably a factor but I don't think it's the primary reason.
Did you read the thread you just replied to? Most of the internet, hundreds of millions (probably trillions but I'm being conservative) of servers, all run Linux. Linux is a minority on desktop computers, yes, but it's a majority of computers on the planet. For every one or two computers an individual might have there are a multitude of servers (that's not just base servers but all the virtual servers, docker containers, IOT, and mobile devices). 10's of these per person if not hundreds. All linux. Your argument that it's a smaller user base is patently false. You're using linux right now and don't even know it.
Thb, I don't think that holds water.
Most Windows viruses spread because non-tech users download crap, open email attachments, download pirated software and then just run all of that with admin rights.
How many Linux servers are used by non-tech people to download and run random garbage from the internet?
Server security and desktop user security are two entirely different things and malware written for one of these use cases will almost never hit the other user group.
This even goes both ways. Log4shell was a massive issue for servers, but hardly anyone non-tech desktop users had issues with it, because they don't tend to run publically accessible server software. Iloveyou was a massive issue for desktop users back in the day, but there were almost no infections on servers, because nobody opens and runs email attachments on servers.
Android (which is the only popular mobile Linux) is so different from Desktop Linux, that malware running on one will hardly ever run on the other system.
There are huge amounts of malware for linux servers, IoT and Android, but very little targeting non-tech desktop users.