I'm just curious if its recommended if a linux machine has some sort of protection. I know windows viruses and malware doesn't effect a linux system, but I also have read that linux viruses are very rare...
I'd argue Anti-Virus programs aren't even all that useful on Windows let alone any other OS. It's always playing catch up with the latest threats and usually misses new threats.
I don't know much about Linux, but I know that on Mac, viruses are practically non-existent. They exist, but only trojans pretty much (in pirated files), actual viruses only exist when very rare flaws in the system are discovered. Also, there are reports that certain antiviruses actually reduce the security in the systems. Considering Linux is much less used than Mac, I am fairly certain there is zero need to use an antivirus for Linux, but don't trust me fully on that.
Anti-Viruses for linux is used for a linux host environment that uses Windows systems as clients. For a example a file server so when a item is uploaded the anti-virus will scan it and deal with it with out infecting windows connected clients and thus since it's a linux system the virus cant hurt it.
In all it's pointless for standard users unless you're on a company network or just down right a dumb ass for downloading stuff with out knowledge on what you just downloaded.
Well frankly, in the last few years, the most of the things my antivirus programs (Windows user, but will surely apply to Linux) would "catch" were false positives. Abandoning one antivirus in favour of another didn't seem to change much in the long run, and some tend to go bananas on almost everything that isn't made by Microsoft or the antivirus devs themselves. The same goes for certain firewalls.
Frankly malware authors target what is popular - which is why for the longest time MacOS and Linux were just never victims. That's not the case anymore and any malware detection will mostly be a game of cat and mouse. Linux is very much a target today especially on the server side. The common LAMP stack and common use of WordPress/Joomla/etc has made for some interesting malware to propagate. There's also root level exploit rootkits (UMBERON, etc) that exist but really securing your shit properly and keeping current on updates will go far better than some constant malware scan protection.
Frankly malware authors target what is popular - which is why for the longest time MacOS and Linux were just never victims. That's not the case anymore and any malware detection will mostly be a game of cat and mouse. Linux is very much a target today especially on the server side. The common LAMP stack and common use of WordPress/Joomla/etc has made for some interesting malware to propagate. There's also root level exploit rootkits (UMBERON, etc) that exist but really securing your shit properly and keeping current on updates will go far better than some constant malware scan protection.
As far as a personal computer goes, what more can I do to make my system more secure?
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In all it's pointless for standard users unless you're on a company network or just down right a dumb ass for downloading stuff with out knowledge on what you just downloaded.
Too bad there's not a patch for that particular security hole.