Firewall and antivirus utilities in Haiku's future?

1

With computer security taking almost center stage these days in the minds of concerned computer users I was wondering what does the future hold for possible firewall and antivirus utilities for Haiku (even shipping out of the box)?

Any strong opinions on the subject?

2

I’m actually a little curious as to whether this is even necessary. Haiku isn’t even a multi-user, server-capable system like Unix derivatives, so there should be no reason for remote computers to have any kind of use privileges on a Haiku machine at all. And certainly nobody’s writing viruses for Haiku.

3

I understand that, but having some sense of security where it makes sense seems like a good idea. Restricting access to various ports out of the norm realm that get used for web apps. And concerning viruses, though I don’t see that happening for Haiku anytime soon doesn’t mean it won’t happen and also we have to be accountable on what we pass on to our neighbors (who may be computing on one of the big 3: Mac, Windows or Linux). It’s never too early to start thinking about this IMHO.

4

That’s interestoing, since I host http://coquilletkd.com , http://fatelk.com , http://coquilledowntownstudio.com , and http://nwmacalendar.com all from an HAIKU system.

5

I was beta tester for this little neet application :slight_smile:

NetLock Monitor

6

Even if Haiku isn’t multi-user, we still need some sort of virus protection. If Haiku ever gets a substantial number of users, viruses will be written. The reason Linux, and Mac have less viruses than windows is because they have much less users than windows. Virus protection shouldn’t be on the bottom of the list.

7

No, definitely it isn’t on the bottom of the list, because writing viruses is even below it.

Really, you must be dreaming if you think that a serious developer is interested in virus protection when in fact, as good as all software that people use on haiku is open source and in most cases also delivered directly from haiku (via installing optional packages).

8

If the demand got high enough I would defiantly write an anti-virus program for haiku, having done one for Windows (No longer works, only on XP) I have enough experience to get basic software written.

9

I think powerful network monitoring software is the more important thing here. Early security holes in haiku won’t come from viruses designed for Haiku, but from malicious activity over the network from other operating systems.

10

This program will protect against all known Haiku and BeOS viruses:
http://bebits.com/app/2552

11

I’m wondering about writing a Haiku as a firewall for my BSc thesis. What do you think is worth to write such a program. I heard from the developers want to change the freebsd stack to something else. Is this true?

Regards

12

Hi pvalue,

Any app is welcome. It may even discover shortcommings in the system and fixes for them. WRT the BSD network layer, I bet we’ll have it for a long time. It’s sensible to benefit from the open source work of others. Especially on such a wide and complicated area as networking.
Maybe consult the haiku-development mailing list for details.

Regards,
Humdinger

13

I think it would be a good idea. Haiku doesn’t really have a FreeBSD stack, it’s designed for Haiku, and while there probably are some improvements to be made it should be fairly complete. However, we do have a FreeBSD compability layer for drivers both for lan and wlan based devices. In the long run and given enough developers it might be replaced. A firewall should not need to know about the compability layer though.

14

I just found this blog and have high hopes for it to continue. Keep up the great work, its hard to find good ones. I have added to my favorites. And the concept of Thank You.

15

The need for antivirus apps is closer than many would think.

I expect Haiku’s first virus incursions will occure through WebPositive. Just as soon as it adds scripting capabilities (e.g.: JAVA).

Granted, I don’t expect the OS or the e-mail to get any infections for a long time to come. But the Web browser is nearly there.

16

The firewall could be useful to close some ports you don’t want opened from the extern but I’ve never used a software one as my router has the Firewall integrated that protect all my LAN not only my PC.

Indeed the necessity of an Anti virus signify a failure of the OS itself IMHO!

A good made OS should have the security enforced in itself:

  • Application cannot install / write files without user consent
  • Only some specifically directory should be writable by the application (for example on in /boot/applications/AppName): they cannot write in the System directory!
  • Application should have a sort of Manifest of what it wants to do to be showed to the user previous the installation so he could choose to not install it if the application declares it want send all his personal file on line
  • As the manifest could tell lies (A virus would say to be a virus?) maybe some sort of certification by a trusted entity (Haiku Inc?): the user could choose to install the untrusted software anyway but at his own risk!

This approach is similar to that used by Android and I think it works well without the need to have a daemon always running in background (and I’ve to add most of the time ineffective too!).

Obviously this could not protect the user if he click “OK” without reading but the first should already give a partial protection…