intrusion detected

Al Gordon runlevel7 at gmail.com
Fri Aug 12 02:47:38 UTC 2005


On 8/11/05, MrKnisely <mrknisely at mrknisely.is-a-geek.org> wrote:
> For me, the thought that once Linux becomes more popular the problems
> will increase doe not hold water.  

Agreed.  Statements that Linux's current security is based on the fact
that it has a small userbase are bull.  After all, Microsoft's Monad,
which only something like 10 computer users in the world run (joking,
but the number's far lower than Linux's userbase), has already had
enough effective virus-like software written for it that MS was forced
to not include it from the next version of Windows.

Linux's biggest security threat will be lazy and
uninformed/misinformed users.  When people decide to run their
graphical environments, web browsers and email clients as root, and
not perform regular updates on their systems, their security situation
will be as bad, if not worse, than if they were running Windows. 
After all, wouldn't you rather 0wnZ0r someone else's powerful Linux
box than some lame Win98 piece of junk?

Windows is non-secure by default, and the user has to go out of their
way to lock it down.  Most Linux distros approach security from the
other direction, making their users work to _lower_ their security
stance.  This is why Linux's security is "better" than Windows, not
because of the number of users in either camp, or their "geek levels".

Personally, I can't wait to see if MS actually releases their next
Windows version "secure by default", as they've been saying, *finally*
implementing the concept of Least Privilege.  Their userbase, all
accustomed to being Administrators on their own systems, will rush to
unsecure the boxes as fast as they can.

-- 

  -- AL --




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