Re: Security through wide system use?

From: Rowdy Yates (rowdy.yates_at_no-spam-today-please.com)
Date: 12/23/03 

Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 15:56:16 GMT

I was happily strolling along my merry little way in comp.security.misc, when
I looked down and saw a little note from Andrew McCall on Tue 23 Dec 2003
05:12:33a who wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> This isn't intended to be a troll, and I am not trying to start a
> flame... but...
>
> I received an email today from my manager pointing me to an article on
> news.com.com[1] that states Windows gets hacked more because its
> popular, and Linux isn't as popular so it doesn't get targeted as
> much.
>
> Personally, I think this is a very simplistic view, from both Linux
> and Windows viewpoint, and would like to find references and articles
> discussing this so I can try and highlight this to the manager. One
> source of information I have already identify is the Netcraft[2] web
> server survey but if anyone else can help me gather more information
> please can you post the information for me.
>
> I am not trying to prove one system is more secure than the other, and
> I apprieciate that there are many factors in system security.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andrew McCall
>
> [1] - http://news.com.com/2100-7344-5117271.html?tag=nefd_hed
> [2] - http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html

there is element of truth to that statement.

my 2 cents. i think that linux user base is a little more tech savvy than
windows users base. linux users are more apt to pay attention to things like
patches, updates, fixes, file permissions. a lot of windows users don't give
a rats ass about any of that until the pc starts to crash & stops booting.

though things are slowly changing a bit. i am seeing a lot more winodws users
paying more attention to this stuff compared to 3 years ago.

interested to see what happens in the near future as linux enters the
enterprise environment and starts getting percieved as part of the
"establishment". are the hacker community going to start discriminating
against different linux distros? isn't that going against GNU, FSF and GPL? 

-- 
Rowdy Yates
MCSE, Security+
I am Against-TCPA
http://www.againsttcpa.com

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