Is anti-virus needed in server?

I am about to make my debut with a sweet linux dedicated server and since this will be some clean box, i will like to know if i need an anti-virus on the server.

I have been using VPS for a while now and i was thinking the hosting provider may have some kind of anti-virus installed by default to protect there server (i may be wrong) so i am guessing it may be needed for me to protect the server with anti-virus.

What do you guys think?

 

If you install Cpanel then it will come with a virus scanner in built which you can tweak the settings for. It will also come with a firewall which is a good idea to tweak the settings for and enable.

 

Honestly, for linux system, I haven't seen a ton of need for it. With that said, we do deploy a/v to all of our servers, including our linux boxes. I guess I consider it a bit of an insurance policy, more than anything else.

Good luck!

 

I will be using DirectAdmin

 

Actually i just got attacked by some artemis virus on my pc and the stuff nearly destroyed my whole computer. I was able to revive my laptop back to life though without wasting time
Anyways that was what actually made me come to think of getting antivirus because that stuff can kill ones whole data if prevention is not handled well.

 

I advise using maldet and perhaps some clav rules. using maldet with monitor users helps a big deal in prevent malware from being uploaded or accessed

 

I dun't think in linux,But in windows you must have one.

 

Well to be honest you might aswell have a anti virus and use everything cpanel has to offer you, scan for trojens every now and then and also use its inbuilt antivirus ,

 

yes you need Anti virus use ClamAV - it comes already with cPanel if you dont have cPanel then you can just get it from below

http://www.clamav.net/lang/en/

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If you use your own SMTP mail server, I think having an AV scanner just for scanning email is all you would need. On a linux box, having a full time antivirus scanning background processes is kind of pointless imo.

 

Hosting provider will take care of it i think

 

Hey buddy, linux-OS-based servers are my specialty. If you are looking to harden your box in general, I'm afraid it is an ongoing process. One of my first mentors told me "server security is like an onion". To get started, I must point out that there is no such thing as an un-hackable server. It's only a matter of making it increasingly difficult for hackers to get any kind of access. The basics include setting up user permissions, services, anti-rootkits, verboose logs, the firewall (which you link with the antivirus), all open-source freeware of course )

Here are two links to good guides, which will point you in the right direction:

http://www.andrewault.net/2010/05/17/securing-an-ubuntu-server/
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-security.html

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If I even try to get into more detail, this reply would be at least 9000 pages long. So please read the above guides and after that if you have any specific questions, I'll answer them.

P.S. If you want to test your servers security (or learn offensive security in the shortest timeframe), there is only one way to do it properly - with BackTrack. Feel free to look them up here:

http://www.backtrack-linux.org/

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Hope this helps. Good luck!
SM

 

If your server doesn't deal much with email/file attachments, I don't see av is a must. Of course the bottom line is to secure your server in the first place.