Is Linux just as vulnerable as Windows?

[DosFreak 2]

Originally posted by clutch:

Quote:

However, how long do you think not following a standard can run without doing real damage to the movement? Only time will tell.

 

LOL. When I read that I immediately thought of IE and web compliance. Not as much as a factor today for Mozilla/Opera as it was a while back (except of course for ActiveX, but who cares about that for Internet use)....but it sure does create Havok when MS Frontpage does one thing and a web compliant browser expects the proper way to render a page.....Yes, Standards are a Good Thing.

 

 

I would say the most sane response to a "Is (insert OS here) less vulnerable than (insert OS here)." would be that the company that supports their OS should have the less vulnerable OS.

 

Now obviously the larger an OS is, the more vulnerable it will be. Not until Linux has grown to the userbase of Windows installations and has the same amount of application support we can not really prove that Linux is less/more vulnerable than Windows....but in certain specialized situations you can determine in which areas Linux or Windows are more suited to their particular environments and THEN determine which is better in that particular situation. I alluded to that above.

 

 

Perhaps we could start a thread describing situations and determine which OS should be used in certain scenarios? Hey! That could be fun!

[DosFreak 2]

Great, I had a brilliant post written but then I lost it. Oh, well the following is just the obvious regurgitated in simple form.

 

IMHO, the sanest answer to the question, "Is {insert *nix distro here) just as vulnerable as Windows?"....

 

Until a *nix disto has as much of a user base as Windows,has as much software support, AND has a major company like MS backing it up, THEN you can compare the two. Until then you can only really compare them in certain specialized uses.

 

Example:

 

Browsing internet with *nix.

Browsing internet with Windows.

 

Assuming no firewall is protecting either system which system will be most affected? Of course Windows. But why?

 

Because IE is integral to the OS.

Because IE is more popular and thus has more vulnerabilities.

 

 

I would say that using the old "Security through obscurity" saying that Linux is not as vulnerable as Windows.....not yet.

 

IMHO, I believe that in some ways MS is doing a better job at security.

Could they do better? Of course.

Will they do better? Of course.

Will they release fixes fast enough to satisfy the public?

Of course not. The larger and more popular the OS, the longer it takes to release the fix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LinuxCrusader 0]

With regards to this security issues and which is more secure than what. Could it be true that if someone somewhere in China incorporated a few lines of code into the so-well known open source code software (*nix) and submitted this "new security solution" to the main headquarters for distribution and regular daily updates, but then and somehow it turns out that these new lines code spies into everyone's computers and at the same time it would know where you'd go in the internet and every key stroke that you type. Could this scenario be true for *nix? Could this happen one day in the future? What prevents this happenning? Or am I just bluffing and recounting M$ experience with this?

[clutch 1]

Much like these?

 

http://www.egocrew.de/download-category-4.html

http://www.packetstormsecurity.org/UNIX/penetration/rootkits/

 

Now, just think what would happen (or did it?) if one of these was uploaded to a "legitimate" site and thousands of downloads occured before it was caught.

[LinuxCrusader 0]

Quote:

q clutch
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Joined: 2000-03-28
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Much like these?

http://www.egocrew.de/download-category-4.html
http://www.packetstormsecurity.org/UNIX/penetration/rootkits/

Now, just think what would happen (or did it?) if one of these was uploaded to a "legitimate" site and thousands of downloads occured before it was caught.

Look scary...I wasn't aware of this.

[clutch 1]

It is scary. No OS is safe, period (unless it's Novell, and that's because nobody cares).