this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2026
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So what are good antivirus options for Linux? is it still pretty much just ClamAV?
Our company uses eset https://www.eset.com/us/home/antivirus/
But afaik it costs money to really work.
But your brain should be the best antivirus you have.
Is there an AUR package for it? seems not in the official repo
It's useful to use brain, but any security layer has holes which is why it's good to have several layers. Some attacks might be way beyond user's understanding or come from trusted sources.
True of virtually every OS.
But "only stupid people get viruses" is exactly the kind of trap that catches folks.
I have eset home but now I've gone completely linux, and they don't do it for home - only business
Which sucks, as I have a year left on my subscription I can no longer use :/
one thread I found from 2 years ago where someone asked for the same thing, a lot of the replies are just "you don't need antivirus on Linux" lmao
There is no malware on Linux and there is no war in Ba Sing Se
Which is completely true when using distros like Debian, Fedora, RHEL, OpenSuse, etc.
Arch (and its derivatives) are designed to be on the bleeding edge with ALL the paper cuts that come with it. It is absolutely not focused on stability or security. If you want those things then stick to Debian or Fedora Silverblue.
And the second you introduce npm to your system you can throw any semblance of security out the window, regardless of what your operating system is, and no antivirus is going to save you.
That being said, the fundamental security models between Linux and Windows are very different. And on Linux the overall impact will likely be far less damaging (technologically, not financially) than on Windows. Windows "security" is just a corporate marketing campaign.
If you use snap, or flatpaks, or npm, or anything like that you run the same risks.
npm, yes. Snap and flatpak? No. I'm not saying it's impossible to get malware. The difference is that snapd and flatpak have various levels of process isolation that largely mitigates any potential issues.
The argument isn't "Linux doesn't have malware", the argument is "you don't need to run antivirus on Linux". Those are two very different things.
Not even the best antivirus will protect you completely, at that point you need good computer hygiene.
Eh. Flatpak has the option for process isolation, but it kinda works similarly to how android apps have default permissions set and the packager can just go "nah, this gets FULL permissions" and unless you go look and change it yourself, the program isn't restricted at all. I don't use ubuntu/snapd so can't speak to that.
There are more protections on flathub than the AUR for sure - the AUR is closer to just downloading random shit off the internet than a true repository. That said, it's crazy to assign the vulnerabilities of the AUR to Arch as a whole... The Arch repos proper (and even Chaotic AUR) didn't have problems during any of this.
You're not wrong, but even with the AUR it's (last I checked/heard) a problem with orphaned packages being picked up by random users, and then a "new" PKGBUILD with the malicious bits getting uploaded.
The reality is that even if everyone just blindly updated through yay this whole time, very few people would be affected because the number of orphaned packages installed is very low. The package managers tend to bug you about orphaned packages.
The difference with Flatpaks and the Snap Store is that you can't just take ownership over an abandoned project. You'd have to create your own. And since Canonical is in charge of the Snap Store, they're quick to react to any sort of security issue.
Ultimately that is what it is. Because some packages are grabbing files from just about anywhere.
And that's really the key. The AUR is bleeding edge with "here be dragons" philosophy. Like I said in my previous comment, if you can't accept those dangerous (work computer, sensitive data, etc) then simply don't use Arch.