[opensource] Linux vs. Windows

[Charlie Hayes]

Yes, the famous RPC buffer overflow arbitrary code execution bug.

A friend of mine (this is all before SP2 which fixes this) got a  
virus before windows was even done installing.

Again, this is a non-issue, its fixed and since that incident  
Microsoft has been really into security.

It's quite possible that Linux has a similar issue and Windows still  
contains a similar bug. However, as Nick pointed out, Windows is the  
target since it has such a huge share of the market.

-Charlie Hayes

On Oct 25, 2006, at 1:57 PM, Nick Hurley wrote:

> "Sean Lee" <lee.2817 at osu.edu> writes:
>> You guys are horrible...  Nothing is perfect, the only issue is  
>> that windows
>> users are more prone to attacks.  Your machine sitting there, running
>> windows or linux.. isn't going to just randomly become under  
>> attack of
>> spyware, malware, crackers, and whatever else you want to blame  
>> windows a
>> sucking at securing.
>
> Actually, yes, your windows machine "just sitting there" with a  
> network
> connection WILL, in fact, come randomly under attack by malware and
> crackers. There are MANY documented instances of people running tests
> EXACTLY like that, you can google for it (I would give you search  
> terms,
> but my brain is not exactly in perfect working mode today). In fact,
> even your linux box or your Mac OS X box will come under attack. The
> only differences are (1) Linux and Mac OS X are generally more  
> secure BY
> DEFAULT than windows (not to say that it's impossible to secure  
> windows
> or that there's no such thing as an insecure linux or os x  
> install), and
> (2) the VAST majority of the malware available today is targeted at
> windows, so even if you do have an insecure linux or os x install, the
> chances of any of the malware or crackers trying to get into your
> machine actually doing so is INCREDIBLY small.
> -- 
> Peace,
>   Nick
>
>    If you do the job badly enough, sometimes you don't get asked to  
> do it
> again.  -- Calvin