Experts Debunk Linux Security Criticisms
Some Linux experts are questioning a report by British-based mi2g, which calls Linux the "most breached" computing environment worldwide, with Microsoft Windows placing a distant second. The London-based security firm said its study analyzed more than 235,000 successful attacks against "permanently connected -- 24/7 online--computers" worldwide between November 2003 and October 2004.
According to the study, computers running Linux accounted for about 65 percent of all recorded breaches, while Microsoft Windows-based systems accounted for about 25 percent of such attacks. Successful attacks against OS X and BSD-based online systems accounted for less than five percent of the worldwide total.
Virus Threat Overlooked
But the report has some gaping holes it its methodology, according to noted open source advocate Bruce Perens and others. "It's pretty ludicrous that they didn't count viruses," Perens said. "Even their own study says that the financial impact of viruses on Windows is tremendously greater than the penetration on Linux."
