[SLUG] java security in Linux

[Russell Davie <rjrd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi
Please give your advice on security of Java in Linux.

scenario:
I have just received a email from ANZ bank (which I don't bank with, so its 
likely to be phishing) that is linked to a bunch of Java scripts.  This is shown 
in Mozilla-Thunderbird when I move the cursor over the link.

As a user has permission to run Java, can opening this link and running the Java 
script be a potential security risk?

What can be done about this to prevent this from happening if an email leaks 
through the spam filters?

Java permissions on this machine:
:~$ ls -la /usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-sun/bin/java
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root root 64492 2005-04-13 20:55 /usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-sun/bin/java

Linux athlonbox 2.6.6 #1 Sun May 8 12:44:37 EST 2005 i686 GNU/Linux

Debian/unstable

regards

Russell