What's malware?
What's malware?
While safer on desktops, Linux as Android has seen many infections, but overall it is almost always the fault of the user, and his "driving" habits. Likewise, 83% of all Windows malware threats, or roughly 92.3 million, were discovered on consumer computers, while 15%, or 16.7 million, were discovered on business systems And since according to one report, 95 percent of cybersecurity breaches are caused by human error, and as Linux desktop users as a class are likely more tech savy and more skillful (at least years ago) then even among desktop users they would be less prone to infections than your average Windows user on that basis alone, in addition to Linux being more secure.
Researchers at Check Point examined cyberattacks in the first half of 2019 and found that those targeting smartphones and other mobile devices have risen by 50% compared with last year”. - Mobile malware attacks are booming in 2019: These are the most common threats
Research showed a 500% increase in mobile Malware in 2022 and also an 80% increase in banking malware attacks on Android devices; this is high and calls for mobile defense.” - Mobile Malware is Increasing Rapidly: Steps to Reduce your Risk
Analysis based on the malware threat statistics by a threat intelligence platform AV-TEST Gmb based in Germany, found that "the number of new Linux malware reached record highs in the first half of 2022, as nearly 1.7 million samples were discovered. Compared to the same period last year, when 226,324 samples were found, new Linux malware numbers soared by close to 650%.... the cumulative number of new Linux malware samples in H1 2022 was 31% higher than the number of such samples in the whole year of 2021...Although Linux was the only operating system that saw growth in new malware samples in the first half of this year, Windows had the most significant number of new malware applications overall. "
Note that "the most significant number" must be objectively understood relative to the number of users on the platforms installed on it, in which for Windows is desktops and laptops in which is clearly predominates, thus having the most significant number is not surprising, versus mobile devices, where Windows was judged well in security. Linux desktops are not much of a target since users of such make up a very small market of such, and require more input to install apps.
Yet in testing [at the time], Microsoft Defender scored 9.6, which is better than any other free product tested with this same sample set, doing better or equal to at that time in 2022 than some of its free "heavyweight rival programs like those from Avast, AVG, and Malwarebytes."
But if the issue is that of what the safest OS is - or was in 2019 and 2020 - then Mac/Apple users can argue for their OS, since this report states “Devices that run on Android – a platform that supports sideloading – have an estimated 15 to 47 times more infections from malware than iPhone, according to Nokia’s “Threat Intelligence Reports 2019 and 2020.” And this compilation reported iOS accounts for under 1% of infections. 47% of free Android antivirus programs can’t properly detect malware. Meanwhile I have LM installed on SSD in older a home built here (16GB Ram; 4.2Ghz Cpu ,thank God), yet Linux Mint looks (actually it does not show it) this USB WiFi Adapter AC600Mbps with Wi-Fi Antenna for Laptop Desktop PC,Dual Band 5.8G/2.4Ghz Wireless Network Adapters Compatible OS with Windows XP/Vista/ 7/ 8.1 /8 /10 / and Mac Os X 10.6 -10.15 Return or replace items: Eligible through January 31, 2023 USB Wifi adapter and does not know to install it.
Not the first time. In contrast, I cannot remember the last time I needed to do anything except allow it to install any HW in Windows, and thus device is immediately enabled and show in Device Manager (I see no default Linux equivalent):
