Study Shows Windows Beats Linux on Security
Wipro surveyed 90 companies in the U.S. and Western Europe with 2,500 to 113,000 employees where both the Windows and open source operating systems were simultaneously being run. When the costs of updating are distributed across the size of the environment and evaluated on a per-asset basis, the study shows Microsoft software to be less expensive to patch than open source equivalents. These findings confirm what many customers are experiencing in their deployment scenarios.
Ref. https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/feature...06-23WiPro.mspx
I think a factor that is not often taken into account with security is the ease at which security is employed. That fact of the matter is that anyone can crack open anyone of three dozen windows security books and secure windows. Linux is not so easy to secure, even for people who know linux. This article focus's on cost but not securability. Of the people who read this post, I would venture that almost 90% will know how to add a user to a new group on a windows server, but less than 10% will know how to add a new group to a user on a linux box (assuming the title draws mostly techies). The fact is that you cannot secure what you don't know. So lack of product knowledge plays a factor in how secure linux can be. I have had allot of people argue with me that linux is just more secure by design, when you take that approach, you are in for it, because a linux system that is not properly secured, in the hands of a linux expert, can be hacked to pieces just as easily as a windows box. Not as many viruses and spybots run on linux because its not that widely used.
I was once very impressed and would swear by the security that Linux had over Windows. Over the past few years this has changed dramatically for me. While Windows has always had ease of use and was building security for their products Linux did just the opposite. Linux started with a very stable and secure yet not very friendly interface and in efforts to make it more appealing and easier to use have lost their hold on security.
Go Bill!
QUOTE (JB@Trinidad) |
can you give some examples of how Linux is lacking in security now? |
QUOTE (JB@Trinidad) |
Wouldn't they be also making patches as they bring on the new user-friendly features? |