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Windows 8 Defeats 85% of Malware Detected In the Past 6 Months
An anonymous reader writes "Now that Windows 8 is on sale and has already been purchased by millions, expect very close scrutiny of Microsoft's latest and greatest security features. 0-day vulnerabilities are already being claimed, but what about the malware that's already out there? When tested against the top threats, Windows 8 is immune to 85 percent of them, and gets infected by 15 percent, according to tests run by BitDefender."
In the last couple versions of Windows, MS has been trying to implement something like the old (pre SELinux) *nix security model. This after having removed it. Why? Because they had removed the security, for good reason, and the *nix model is a good one. In the old days, there were network operating systems. Many users had terminals to one computer, which protected one user's work from other users mistakes or malice. It was designed for security and it was Unix. It was also huge and EXPENSIVE. One day a guy wanted an OS to fit on a 512k floppy disk and run with 128k RAM so people could afford computers at home. Single home computers, not corporate networks. To make Disk Operating System fit on a floppy, he removed stuff DOS didn't need, like security. (No network meant few threats.) A GUI was added. Backwards compatibilty was maintained with the "no security needed" DOS. Then the internet happened, and Bill crapped his pants. Since then, MS has been trying to design security back in, while maintaining backward compatibility. DOS programs still run on Vista, without running into problems with new security added since Disk Operating System. Linux has always been a network OS, never a disk OS, and has therefore never removed the security model.