RE: Viva le Same! Linux

Subject: RE: Viva le Same! Linux
From: "Jonathan West" <jwest -at- mvps -dot- org>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 23:11:15 +0100


Kevin McLauchlan wrote

> > >Microsoft is working hard to find ways of reducing the
> > > time between a patch being available and most users
> > > getting it applied.
> >
> > shoot...I know that..don't send out software that needs
> > it in the first place.
>
> Can't really be done, unless you happen to be "Mr. Perfect".
> Obviously, it can be done BETTER than Microsoft has
> historically done it.

True in both cases.

>
> But, I'll bet that Andrew's point was not that the software
> (Windoze or Office, or whatever) is easy to secure at the
> source, but rather that it is the USERS who fail to take
> easy and reasonable steps that they would have to take
> with Linux software anyway, to achieve security.

It was my point, but also true.

Two other things to add. First is that security vulnerabilities will still
happen from time to time in even the best-designed software. Therefore a
security strategy has to include an effective process for fixing these and
distributing the fixes. As I understand it, Ballmer's aim is to get the time
between availability & widespread implementation of the patch down to
something less than the time it takes a hacker to reverse-engineer the patch
code, deduce the original vulnerability, and develop and distribute
something to attack it.

Second is that Microsoft produced a slide (I hope to get an electronic copy
in due course) providing numbers of security vulnerabilities reported in the
press in the last 12 months. Windows & Linux figures were broadly
comparable, in the 30-40 range IIRC.

Regards
Jonathan West



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Re: Viva le Same! Linux: From: Kevin McLauchlan

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