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What antivirus programs are available for Ubuntu?

We previously used Symantec Endpoint Protection but it does not work in Ubuntu.

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    This is a 'shopping' question which as per the site FAQ askubuntu.com/help/dont-ask is best not to spend time on
    – K7AAY
    Jan 2, 2014 at 19:22
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    It is also misleading. It implies that you actually need AV on Linux to make it more secure which is a fallacy. Note how up-voted answers are suggesting non-free and non open-source "solutions" to a non-existent "problem". Commercial AV solutions would make your Ubuntu system less secure by introducing proprietary privileged code, possibly with auto-updates and "phone-home" mechanisms to your system. By allowing and encouraging such AV systems to be installed, you actually open yourself to who knows what.
    – arielf
    Sep 6, 2014 at 20:34
  • @arielf maybe also worth mentioning... a related question at a sister-site with a little more background: softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/q/38531/9157
    – DJCrashdummy
    Jul 20, 2017 at 20:48
  • Writing this in 2021: skipping the answers recommending BitDefender, Avast, and F-Prot can save you time. These products, or their solutions for Linux, are discontinued. It could be helpful though if you could consider downvoting them, so that they would not push down answers that are still usable.
    – Levente
    Apr 6, 2021 at 7:07

7 Answers 7

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As an alternative to proprietary antivirus solutions like Symantec AntiVirus (non-free payware) and Avast AntiVirus (non-free freeware), you might consider ClamAV, which is free open source software. You can get it in Ubuntu by installing the clamav package. If you want a GUI for it, you can install clamtk. You can install packages in the Software Center or using apt-get from the command line as others have suggested (as well as other methods).

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  • This is what I currently use. Note that it cannot clean infected files, but it can automatically delete them (not recommended; at any rate, it's not the default behavior). My only real complaint about clamav is that it has a very high false positive rate from my experience, especially when scanning Windows partitions (where it commonly likes targeting MS Office).
    – Knowledge Cube
    Nov 17, 2011 at 0:09
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    Also, if you want a GUI front-end for clamav, then I suggest ClamTK.
    – Knowledge Cube
    Nov 17, 2011 at 0:10
  • Eliah, do you have any updates for the answer? {Related)
    – jokerdino ♦
    Aug 26, 2012 at 14:40
  • @jokerdino Are you suggesting I update this answer with information about ClamAV with respect to Linux (rather than Windows) viruses? Or something else? It's not totally clear to me what information is being requested, so please let me know.
    – Eliah Kagan
    Aug 26, 2012 at 18:43
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    @EliahKagan - ClamAV is mainly intended as protection by a Linux system to other (non Linux) systems. It is not needed to protect Ubuntu itself from native viruses. I think that yes, this accepted answer should be modified to make this clear. As is, it misleads by suggesting that Linux in general has a virus issue which one needs protection against. Thanks.
    – arielf
    Sep 6, 2014 at 20:40
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Its good to install anti-virus if you are dual booting or sometimes scan infected pen drives. The best option will be to use free Bit-defender for Linux. You must be knowing that Bit-defender one of the best or the best.

Link: Antivirus for Linux - Bitdefender Antivirus Scanner for Unices

Go To this link and choose 'Request a Free License (for personal use only)' from left hand side menu. You have to fill a form for license and they will send you a key and location to download anti-virus for your system.

After downloading:

Open terminal and go to location where you downloaded.

Make executable and change permission (You can use full name also I used asterisk alternatively)

chmod u+x BitDefender-Antivirus-Scanner*

Install (You can use full name also I used asterisk alternatively)

sudo ./BitDefender-Antivirus-Scanner*

The License page will open in terminal. Keep pressing space-bar till you reach end and than it will ask you to ACCEPT it. Just write

accept

And Press ENTER

Finally it will ask if you want to install GUI pack as well. Write

y

And press enter

Run it like any other application on Ubuntu. When you open it there will be an option to 'SET A NEW KEY' press it and copy the key you got in E-mail.

Bit-defender will be up and running with an year license and don't forget to Update it. There is an option in program to do so automatically.

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  • Does not seem to exist any more for "unices". Redirects to a generic business page, and subsequent exploring yields only "Complete protection for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS devices".
    – Levente
    Apr 6, 2021 at 2:03
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July 22 2019: Avast for Linux seems to have been discontinued.

You can use Avast for Linux.

You can download it free from the Avast for Linux web page.

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    Be careful when someone suggests you should download a "free" binary for Linux from non-official repositories. At best this would vastly increase your attack surface. At worst, it'll get infected with malware. Is Avast open-source? (if so please post a link to the source). Can it be audited? Does it do auto-updates? Does it run as root? Does it intercept system calls and modifies their semantics (e.g. can it make a read of what it thinks is a "virus" fail)? Given my take on the answers to the above questions I don't believe it can improve security on an otherwise clean Ubuntu system.
    – arielf
    Sep 6, 2014 at 20:51
  • I don't see a linux option here.
    – SurpriseDog
    Jul 18, 2019 at 21:20
  • @Benjamin Yes it seems to have been discontinued.
    – Swarnendu Biswas
    Jul 22, 2019 at 4:44
  • Only .exe file for Windows is available on the website.
    – Levente
    Apr 6, 2021 at 1:59
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This is an updated list of antivirus softwares available (Only for Linux)

Conclusion

Why do I need anti-virus software?

You are required to have a virus scanner installed by the terms of use of the company you work for or are doing business with. To scan files locally, over your network, or going outside your network. For example, via email. Windows viruses may potentially run via Wine. Discovered GNU/Linux malware are mitigated.

Reasons Linux is less prone to malware Programs are run as normal user, not root user Open source - more eyes on the system source code Diverse system configurations Less malware actors overall focus on linux. However, proficient malware actors do target linux.

source for conclusion

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I have learned about the existence of

packages from @KevinBerry's question, where he inquired what packages people use in 2021 beyond these; but then his question got closed as a duplicate of this question, so it couldn't garner any answers.

I don't have any experience with these packages, but I think it's important that they are being mentioned.

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You can also get F-Prot for Linux, it is free to use for home users. Unfortunately it does not come with a GUI.

You can find out more here: Product Overview - F-PROT Antivirus Products

and download it from here: F-PROT Antivirus for Linux - home use - F-PROT Antivirus Downloads

The install is quite straight forward, as it comes with an install script. It is recommended that you use the folder /usr/local/f-prot/ for the installation.

Open a terminal and extract the downloaded archive with this command:

tar -zxvf /path/to/fp-Linux.x86.32-ws.tar.gz

and then run the install script inside the folder you extracted it to:

/path/to/install-f-prot.pl
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  • Many new users do not know what's an installation script, or what to do with it. I'd suggest providing more detailed instructions, as in the answer above related to BitDefender.
    – mikewhatever
    Jan 3, 2014 at 0:57
  • EOL: "Dear Valued Partner, This note is to inform you of the upcoming End-of-Sale (EOS) and End-of-Life (EOL) dates for the F-Prot Endpoint Antivirus products."
    – Levente
    Apr 6, 2021 at 1:58
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I use now again the old good Dr.Web well known in Russia since 1980th: https://www.drweb.com/

They have native clients for all the desktop OSs and Android. Android license was free if you buy a desktop license. They also offer trials for testing.

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