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Windows Vs. Linux: The Flaws
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-01-06
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) released a study last week saying Windows contained fewer flaws the Linux/Unix. Some experts are taking issue with that statement however, as the difference was fairly dramatic.
The differences were substantial as Windows came in at about 812 versus the 2,328 for Linux/Unix. The rest of the 5198 were applicable to both systems. Linux vendors like Red Hat seriously questioned the validity of the study however.
CNET quoted Mark Cox, a consulting software engineer from Red Hat saying, "The study is confusing and misleading. When you look at the list, the vulnerabilities are miscategorized.
"For example, Firefox is categorized as a Unix/Linux operating-system flaw, but it runs just as well on a Windows platform. Apache and PHP also run just as well on both platforms. There are methodological flaws in the statistics."
Others feel like the US-CERT analyses have some holes because the system used to measure and compare just isn't ready to fairly compare the two. CNET also quoted Steven Christey of Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures suggesting there was no basis for comparison of the relative security of the two systems.
Christey's online letter stated as much, "You should not interpret any RVI's statistics without considering its editorial policy. For example, the US-CERT Cyber Security Bulletin Summary for 2005 uses statistics that include replication."
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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