security - Is there a point in installing antivirus on Ubuntu?

I have recently started using Ubuntu. I am wondering about the point of installing antivirus programs on Ubuntu. On SuperUser, I found the opinion that it only detects "windows viruses" and removes them. Is there a point in installing antivirus if I don't have any other OS?

As far as I know, there are no viruses for Linux. What about malware and any other harmful programs? Is it safe not to install any protecting software?

Answer

This is simply not true. There are many types of malicious code which can be run on 'Nix.

The point is (and the misunderstanding), is that there is significantly less when compared to Windows. For whatever reason it's become common place to use AV on Windows.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_malware

There are a few AV programs for Linux.

There is also more information on super user. The rest of 'my' answer is copied from the answer of that post:

Well, it factually is not... it's just less subject to hackers developing viruses that target Linux systems. Consumer grade computers usually run on Windows and thus, when targeting a wide audience, Windows is the way to go.

Don't misunderstand Linux and viruses, there definitely ARE Linux viruses.

Some distros have additional protection layers such as SELinux in Ubuntu for example. Then there's the default firewall and the fact that alien files don't automatically have permission to be executed. Specific execution permission has to be granted before execution is possible.

Then there are several other factors that make Linux a hard place to be for viruses usually non-root users on Linux systems have no to little executable files at their disposal that would allow for viruses to stay undetected en propagate. Some programs just require you to be logged in as root (or by use of sudo) before they run or to access/modify directories other than your home. It's just a lot harder to develop a viable virus that would spread as good as it would in Windows.

UPDATE:

As mentioned below, most machines that run Linux are either servers that are run by people who know a thing or two about what they're doing. People that run Linux for desktop use usually choose to and also do know what they're doing. Almost all computer illiterate run Windows and therefore it's much easier to get those computers infected. "Hey, this machine tells me that I have I virus and I have to purchase this Anti-Virus program called 'FAKETrojanHunter' to get rid of it... Okay, let's do it!"

Because no Linux distribution/installation is equal per se, it's harder to develop malware that would infect them all as efficient as possible. Furthermore, almost all software run on Linux is Open Source, making malware much more easily detectable since it's source is open to the public.