Windows Beats Linux In Security

Forrester Research last week declared MS Windows a more secure operating system than it's chief rival, Linux. The revelation comes from a study conducted by the research firm, which shows that Microsoft discovered fewer vulnerabilities in Windows and related Internet Explorer and SQL Server applications than Linux distributors found. Microsoft also patched them more rapidly than the leading Linux providers.

According to a study published by Computer Business Review Online, entitled Forrester Says Windows Is More Secure Than Linux (appearing here: http://www.cbronline.com/todaysnews/08de2e3972ad87b080256e6900385794 ), in a 12-month period, Microsoft found 128 flaws in its system and patched each one within 25 days on average. Conversely, the story reported that Red Hat's Linux version tracked 229 flaws and it took as long as 57 days on average to patch them. Another version of Linux, Debian's, experienced 286 flaws, the story reported, yet the distributor only fixed 96 percent of the total flaws, and took as long as 32 days to patch them.

Neither Mandrake nor SuSE Linux, two other popular variants, could beat the Windows record either, the story reports. Windows has long been attacked by supporters of the hodge-podge of open source platforms under the Linux banner as being less secure, a perception bolstered in no small part by the well-publicized security flaws that have appeared in the media in recent years.

"The ubiquity of Windows, coupled with the sheer number of Windows servers and the tendency for hackers to try to attack Windows machines explicitly, can make it seem like Windows is less secure than Linux. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't," wrote the author of the story, Timothy Prickett Morgan .