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6 Months On, Vista Security Still Besting Linux
Martin writes "Great report on security vulnerabilities for MS/Linux/OS X. This is a revised version of the one Jeff Jones did back on March 21: Windows Vista — 90 Day Vulnerability Report. This time he did what the Linux community had asked. Everyone complained that he did the report based on a full Linux distro including optional components, not on just a base OS install. So this time he did both; Vista still came out on top. I was shocked that Apple was even on the list as I believed all those Mac commercials!"
Vista better be more secure than Linux. Windows is the 'McDonalds' of OS's....it caters to the lowest common denominator. Someone who was able to tune a Linux kernel is not going to download "Stephen Speilberg gets Hilarious Prank Call.mp3.vba" off Limewire. Even if Vista was more secure, its because the users need to be protected from themselves.
I read the post about the worst jobs for a couple of minutes before getting fed up with all the inane comments from people who didn't read the article. It's probably pertinent however:
Do you flinch when your inbox dings? The people manning secure@microsoft.com receive approximately 100,000 dings a year, each one a message that something in the Microsoft empire may have gone terribly wrong. Teams of Microsoft Security Response Center employees toil 365 days a year to fix the kinks in Windows, Internet Explorer, Office and all the behemoth's other products. It's tedious work. Each product can have multiple versions in multiple languages, and each needs its own repairs (by one estimate, Explorer alone has 300 different configurations). Plus, to most hackers, crippling Microsoft is the geek equivalent of taking down the Death Star, so the assault is relentless. According to the SANS Institute, a security research group, Microsoft products are among the top five targets of online attack. Meanwhile, faith in Microsoft security is ever-shakier--according to one estimate, 30 percent of corporate chief information officers have moved away from some Windows platforms in recent years. "Microsoft is between a rock and a hard place," says Marcus Sachs, the director of the SANS Internet Storm Center. "They have to patch so much software on a case-by-case basis. And all in a world that just doesn't have time to wait."