Windows vs. Linux security: No unbiased reports

[linuxdude32]

Forrester Research published a report last March that came to the unlikely conclusion that Linux is no more secure than Windows. Last month, Danish security firm Secunia compared security across operating systems and concluded that Windows was more secure than many people think. Both studies are easy to counter with a little research and common sense, but that still leaves us without any meaningful third-party operating system security assessment.

Newsforge articleWhat I find interesting, and which this article points out, is that the Forrester study didn't rate the severity of security updates, just the number. In the Danish study, severity level was acknowledged but no distinction was made between anonymous Internet users and remote users (meaning they had actual user accounts). The majority of severe Linux problems have been with remote users, but they still have to be actual users to gain privileges. With the Windows flaws, even totally anonymous users can take advantage. This makes a big difference. The number of security updates released for IE and the severity of those updates is frankly frightening. Even if you don't use IE, and ironically you need it to use Windows Update, your system can still be at risk.