Vista/7 more secure than Linux and Mac OS X
Summary: Operating system security is always a hotly contended subject, and last week Microsoft amped up the hype by claiming that Windows Vista and the soon-to-be-released 7 is the world's most secure OS, beating both Linux and Mac OS X.
Operating system security is always a hotly contended subject, and last week Microsoft amped up the hype by claiming that Windows Vista and the soon-to-be-released 7 is the world's most secure OS, beating both Linux and Mac OS X.
Here's what Microsoft's chief operating officer Kevin Turner had to say at the MidMarket CIO Summit last week:
Vista today, post-Service Pack 2, which is now in the marketplace, is the safest, most reliable OS we've ever built. It's also the most secure OS on the planet, including Linux and open source and Apple Leopard. It's the safest and most secure OS on the planet today. Everything that we've learned in Vista will be leveraged in Windows 7, but certainly when we broke a lot of the compatibility issues to lock down user account controls, to lock down the ability to manipulate states and all the things, that was a very painful process for us to grow through, but we had to do it. And the reason that Windows 7 will be successful is because of the pain we took on Vista. Because from a compatibility standpoint, if it works on Vista, it will work on Windows 7. If it doesn't work on Vista, it won't work on Windows 7. [emphasis added]
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The "my OS is better than your OS" debate is usually a pointless exercise because the conclusions are ultimately unsatisfactory. It's a bit like asking whose Mom makes the best apple pie or who is the best driver. Our prejudices get in the way of a logical debate.
However, despite being primarily a Windows user, I can't help but feel that Microsoft's "most secure OS on the planet" statement is rooted more in hyperbole than fact. If Turner had said "most secure Windows OS on the planet" I might have been happy to buy that. But to say that it's more secure than Mac OS X or Linux, gimme a break. All my Windows machines are beefed up with additional body armor in the form of firewalls and antivirus applications, additions that are unnecessary on my Linux or Mac systems.
While I know how to keep my Windows boxes safe from the bad guys, I'm not sure if I could hand my Mac or Linux systems over to bad guys if I wanted to. The critical difference here isn't the OS but the volume of threats facing each one. I'm happy to leave my Mac or Linux boxes unpatched for months, but feel quite vulnerable if my Windows boxes aren't patched by the end of Patch Tuesday, and with good reason. That to me is a critical test in determining whether an OS is secure.
Can the dominant OS ever be the safest OS? I'm not sure it can ever be the safest choice.
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Talkback
Most secure?
Let's see what it looks like this time next year.
My bet is it will look like every other Windows O/S; sorta like swiss cheese.
More people hacking it = looking more like swiss cheese
Even my OSX loving buddy from college had to agree with that, after he saw the security improvements in Windows 7 and said.... "Wait a minute.... why doesn't OSX have this!"
You are wish that wass true.....
That's what I thought.....
Explanation: Vista wasn't hacked
platform attack which would have taken down
Ubuntu as well. According to the hacker.
In fact, because of the *extra* mitigations and
defenses which Vista had, the attacker had to
enlist help from a fellow security researcher.
He helped used a <i>Java</i> vulnerability as a
stepping stone for bypassing Vistas extra
defenses.
With Ubuntu and OSX the just with the Flash
vulnerability it would have been game over.
Only, the security researcher (hacker) had
prepared a Vista attack, not a OSX or Ubuntu
attack. So rather than coding his attack over
from scratch he combined it with another
attack.
Note that there was no vulnerability in Vista
used during that contest. The attackers used a
<i>Flash</i> and a <i>Java</i> vulnerability.
3rd party apps. The attackers were impeded by
Vistas extra defenses.
Anyway, that was the previous year conntest.
This year Linux wasn't represented, but the
successful attackers both, independently,
confirmed that Vista (and Windows 7 by
extension) is the hardest OS to crack.
Of course not! The tooth fairy was hacked.
<b>windows was hacked</b>. PERIOD!
No it wasn't...
Don't be silly James.
Cheap talk . . .
Correct
and more to the point...
BTW: The OS was hacked and the entry point was Flash. Sorry :(
Of course not! The tooth fairy was hacked.
Lerianis says so...
LOL... :D
Several Vulns Already
In fact, the changes to security (due to customer complaints) mean that Win7 is likely LESS secure than Vista was. Vista was pretty decent that way.
Oh, and you can't compare any OS to "Linux" because the security profile for each distribution is completely different.
OS X, however, has some serious problems and a user base which feels invincible. It's like they're wearing a cross around your neck and thinking it protects them from STDs. I actually believe that Win7 is more secure than that.
It's like they are wearing a magic charm.
It's like they are wearing a magic charm.
Invincable? Just not worth the effort.
To some extent, OS X users [b]are[/b] saved by the nature of their OS/user base. Were I to write a worm or virus, Id' want to attack the largest number of machines that are connected to the internet as long as possible. Number one choice would be servers. Maintained mostly by pros, a harder target than the Windows home user's desktop box that's running 7/24, unpatched, with an ignorant yahoo who'll open any attachment, install any "cool" free app.
OS X? There aren't enough of them and so many are notebooks that aren't up and running all the time. So even if you could, why would you? Too little bang for the effort. (Not that this excuses Apple! They shouldn't rely on such a lame defense.)
How much self-replicating...
spewing forth gigabytes of spam all over the Internet? Apparently,
so far at least, Macs may be less secure in a hacking contest, but
are far safer connected to the Internet. Mr. Miller, the winner of
the hacking contest himself testified that Macs are safer. Also
there are no self replicating worms, such as the recent Conficker,
which infects millions of Windows computers including VISTA and
if there were any out there, perhaps even Windows 7.
It would help if you'd write in grammatical English
Confused
That was NOT the previous year's contest. That was the most recent one about OSes. The other recent one you're thinking of was a PWN2OWN browser cracking contest. It had nothing to do with cracking an OS.
It helps your argument when you understand the facts of what you're trying to argue. Shock. O_o
Would've taken Ubuntu?
Yet nobody took down Linux.
If I have two cars sitting side by side and pick the locks on one and make the claim that the other one would've been just as easy without proving it, I've just made a claim.
If I break into one house and claim that the other one would've been just as easy, I've just made a claim.
The facts point out that Linux was the only OS not hacked. No claims that Windows is harder to crack matter until it's been proven.