Is antivirus protection needed for Linux Ubuntu 18.04?

[ktomk42]

I have Linux Ubuntu 18.04 on my HP laptop. Is antivirus protection needed?

 

[martinch]

From the horse's (Ubuntu's) mouth, so to speak: https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/net-antivirus.html.en

 

[Solandri]

With Linux, keeping up to date with patches and updates is much more important than anti-virus. Because Linux is used mostly on servers with no actual user, most of the security concerns in Linux are from a software vulnerability allowing an intruder to access your system, rather than a virus accidentally run by a desktop user. The updates will fix vulnerabilities as they are discovered. (Granted for home use, your router's firewall should block most intrusions. Be sure to update your router's firmware regularly - most routers are just tiny computers running Linux.)

Ubuntu should be configured by default to auto-update. But you should verify that it is working (sometimes the correct repository addresses do not get entered properly by the install script).