> What I have seen happen a lot is people switch to Linux > because they hate > windows. Everything is up and running fine for them but they > do not invest > the proper time to learn how to maintain the box to keep > aware of security > patches. Now you have an OS with multiple services from multiple open > source projects and anyone of those can end up having a > security exploit > that some 12 year old will use to "own" the box and the admin > may never even > know the kid is in there. Windows certainly gets more than > its fair share > of exploits but it just seems like with the typical weekend > sysadmin that > the process to alert people of exploits and fixes for them is > much better in > the windows world.
I think you are correct for /some/ Linux distributions (like Mandriva), but this is not the case for the majority of them. The biggest security difference between Windows and Linux is that Linux forces the sysadmin to turn on services as he needs them. Windows 2000 and earlier assumed you'd need stuff like IIS/FTP/Telnet/etc. and turned them on by default. Win2k3 and Linux assume you don't need anything but bare functionality, and you have to manually turn on the services you need. This has been a standard security practice in the computing world for years, but Windows introduced the "we trust our users and hope there aren't any hackers" mentality. ------------------ This transmission may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the information contained herein (including any reliance thereon) is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you received this transmission in error, please immediately contact the sender and destroy the material in its entirety, whether in electronic or hard copy format. Thank you. A1. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:239924 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
