Most *nix systems (including GNU/Linux, the BSDs, Mac OS X (Darwin), and Solaris (Open Solaris) are OPEN SOURCE.
While this does nothing to guarantee immunity, it does mean that the cards are on the table, and face up. Anyone who wants to browse the source is free to do so, which often means vulnerabilities are found, and many times patched long before an exploit exists in the wild.
Contrast this with the "Microsoft" way:
No really, it's secure this time. No we fixed that! Trust us. We're focused on security. What do you mean you'd like to audit the source code? Are you in the European Union? You understand we are going to have to charge you for a peek.
Personally, I prefer the former to the latter.
While there is certainly great potential for abuse, I still believe Macs come more secure "Out of the box."
On a Mac - All the communication ports are closed and all native services -- personal file sharing, Windows file sharing, personal web sharing, remote login, FTP access, remote Apple events and printer sharing -- are turned off by default.
On XP Service Pack 2 - The Windows Firewall is enabled by default (Great!) But file and printer sharing default to on and you still have full admin on the machine by default.
In the end, Windows and "Unix flavored" OSes can both be hardened considerably by someone with the knowledge and tools to do so, but for me it always comes down to having a secure and transparent foundation and that means open source.
Full Disclosure - I admin both types of platforms in a variety of flavors but I prefer Unix to Windows so factor in my bias into the above.
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Most *nix systems (including GNU/Linux, the BSDs, Mac OS X (Darwin), and Solaris (Open Solaris) are OPEN SOURCE.
While this does nothing to guarantee immunity, it does mean that the cards are on the table, and face up. Anyone who wants to browse the source is free to do so, which often means vulnerabilities are found, and many times patched long before an exploit exists in the wild.
Contrast this with the "Microsoft" way:
No really, it's secure this time. No we fixed that! Trust us. We're focused on security. What do you mean you'd like to audit the source code? Are you in the European Union? You understand we are going to have to charge you for a peek.
Personally, I prefer the former to the latter.
While there is certainly great potential for abuse, I still believe Macs come more secure "Out of the box."
On a Mac - All the communication ports are closed and all native services -- personal file sharing, Windows file sharing, personal web sharing, remote login, FTP access, remote Apple events and printer sharing -- are turned off by default.
On XP Service Pack 2 - The Windows Firewall is enabled by default (Great!) But file and printer sharing default to on and you still have full admin on the machine by default.
In the end, Windows and "Unix flavored" OSes can both be hardened considerably by someone with the knowledge and tools to do so, but for me it always comes down to having a secure and transparent foundation and that means open source.
Full Disclosure - I admin both types of platforms in a variety of flavors but I prefer Unix to Windows so factor in my bias into the above.