Very good reading.. However, while I would agree with his basic conclusions, that a linux virus would be harder to propagate than a Windows virus, his arguments are flawed. Mr. Skoll tries to claim that because more attacks occur against MS Based systems, then MS systems have more security flaws. While it may or may not be true, the number of attacks does not indicate the number of flaws. A system could have only 1 major flaw that is easily exploitable and 10 minor flaws, while a competitor has 200 minor flaws and 5 major flaws that require expert knowledge to exploit. The one that will most likely be attacked is the one with the single flaw that is easiest to exploit. This flaw will be exploited again and again until it no longer exists. Fortunately for Mr. Skoll, he is correct in stating that MS does have more vulnerabilities. In looking at the vulnerability database maintained by SecurityFocus (http://online.securityfocus.com/cgi-bin/sfonline/vulns.pl) you can plainly see that since Jan 1, 2001 MS has had 290 published vulnerabilities while most linux vendors are at 40 and below, a large difference. However, this fact has no bearing on his conclusions. MS systems are defaced more because their flaws are more easily exploited. Script Kiddies are lazy and go for the easy targets. ___________________________________________________________________________ ****** _/ ****** | John Scrimsher ***** _/ ***** | ISE Intrusion Detection **** _/_/_/ _/_/_/ **** | Hewlett Packard Co. **** _/ _/ _/ _/ **** | Phone : 541 715 4671 **** _/ _/ _/_/_/ **** | Telnet: 715 4671 ***** _/ ***** | Fax : 541 715 6182 ****** _/ ****** | E-mail: john_scrimsher@private | Postal: 1000 NE Circle Blvd i n v e n t | Corvallis, Oregon 97330 ____________________________________________________________________________
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