zlacker

That whole thing is manufactured drama by some youtubers.

I can't say if the infections themselves are real or staged, but they clearly and explicitly set the OS up for failure: they give it a public internet IP, enable file sharing, RDP, remote assistance, then disable the firewall for good measures. No modern OS would fare better in those circumstances.

>>tredre+(OP)
I disagree, I think most modern OSes would be fine, assuming they are up to date and nobody is using secret 0days on you.

>>tredre+(OP)
AFAICT there was a single YouTube video that started this[0] and they mentioned explicitly several times that this mainly works because they put it in "the open internet" as a server. Disabling the firewall was the icing on the cake and yet that is all sites that reported this[1], no mention about how the computer was not behind, well, anything that a desktop in the last couple of decades would be (and most likely beyond that, i remember around 2002 when i had a modem, i had to visit a web page at my ISP to allow me open various ports as many things were disabled by default).

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uSVVCmOH5w

[1] https://www.xda-developers.com/connected-windows-xp-internet...

>>tredre+(OP)
> No modern OS would fare better in those circumstances.

Of course they would. Modern Linux, FreeBSD and macOS are totally fine connected to the internet directly with ssh enabled and no firewall. Sure; if you expose samba with write access and no password, you’re in for a world of hurt. But so long as your machine is kept up to date with security patches and has some form of authentication on all remote services, it should (generally) survive just fine on the open internet.

Of course defence in depth is still a good idea. But script kiddies aren’t using 0day attacks to portscan the open internet. But security vulnerabilities in network services get fixed.

>>badsec+464
The firewall was disabled by default in XP until SP2...

>>joseph+Q64
In my experience, an weekly-patched, default installation debian Linux cira 2015 get a malware in a week or two on the open internet.

>>jmgao+p84
Yes, but in the video it isn't and he explicitly disables it. Windows XP even warns about it after he does it.

>>joseph+Q64
Modern Windows is fine, too. You may even be able to use Windows 7 that way these days. A lot has changed since XP SP2.

>>j16sdi+Ad4
Which tool do you use to detect malwares on Debian?

>>j16sdi+Ad4
I am not sure exactly what you're saying: Are you saying that you had experience in 2015 that your "default installation" Debian Linux server got malware on the open internet despite it being fully updated weekly?

If I read that right, I would like two things clarified:

1: what "default installation" means. Do you have any open network ports?

2: What does "get a malware" mean? Do you mean it was possible to get malware because a user downloaded som random binary off of the internet? Or do you mean that entirely passively, some malware remotely exploited some network service?

I would like to contribute my experience: I have been responsive for running many Debian servers on the internet for that last 25 years. During those years I have not once encountered one of my systems being compromised. Of course, you might say that I have just been unknowingly compromised. While this is indeed possible, it is possible for all systems to be compromised without owners knowing it.

>>jeroen+Kq5
I use windows 7 since >10 years, without firewall, virus scan and only with handpicked updates. As long you live behind a NAT and use a modern browser and mail client, nothing will happen. No viruses, no botnets, no malware.

I didn't test this with a virus check, but I have a bitcoin wallet with 0.1 BTC and without password on my HDD. Still there.