[Foss-cafe] Windows vs. Linux (and Unix) security breakdown

[Steven Hatfield]

Hello to all of the Free and Open Source Software loving people of the  
world, or at least this email list...

A friend of mine and I were talking a couple of weeks ago about Linux  
vs Windows security, and he said "If Linux were as populous on the  
desktop as Windows, it would be experiencing the same security  
problems".  I read this report yesterday, and immediately thought of  
that conversation:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/security/security_report_windows_vs_linux/

This report breaks it all down, and explains exactly what I was trying  
so hard yet so unsuccessfully to say:  The design is what matters, and  
what matters is the design.  Linux was and is designed for security  
first and features second, while Windows is the other way around.   
Microsoft has it back-asswards.  If you read enough of that report  
(it's BIG), you'll know why the world is a much safer place for  
businesses that deploy Linux to their business desktops and data center  
server rooms.

I know that Microsoft is moving Windows toward managed code, but that  
is likely not to happen for a very long time (maybe 5 years or more).   
Besides, even with Microsoft's managed code, you can run unsafe code  
and step right out of the sandbox anyways:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/csref/ 
html/vclrfunsafe.asp

James Gosling, creator of the Java Programming Language, had this to  
say about it:

From: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,741330,00.asp

[quote]
Gosling also spoke of Microsoft's .Net strategy and its Java-like C#  
language, saying C# and Microsoft's memory model around C and C++ is  
unsafe. "C# has this unsafe access facility," he said. "The C and C++  
memory model strikes a bullet through the heart of Microsoft's CLR  
[Common Language Runtime] strategy."
[/quote]

So even in the "new world order" of .NET and Managed code, Microsoft  
puts features first, security second.  This is the "big thing" that  
will always bite them, and as black hats get more crafty, Microsoft's  
OS is going to look all that much worse to the rest of the world.

Have a wonderful weekend,
-Steven