Which OS is more secure Mac OS, Windows, Linux?

Question

I have found some disturbing facts but do these articles have any merits? I mean, Apple has the best OS in the world. Right?

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-vs-Linux-vs-Mac-OS-X-50180.shtml

http://search.techrepublic.com.com/search/apple+macintosh+and+microsoft+windows+and+security.html

Also, the amount of time it takes to address these vulnerabilities is interesting.
http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/white_papers/ent-whitepaper_internet_security_threat_report_xi_03_2007.en-us.pdf
From Symantec publication...
"Microsoft Windows had the shortest average patch development time of the five operating systems in the
last six months of 2006. During this period, Windows had an average patch development time of 21 days
...
...Apple Mac OS X had the third shortest average patch development time in the second half of 2006, at
66 days for a sample set of 43 vulnerabilities..."

Seeing so many advantages in using Mac OS, should people consider running a multi-million, billion company on Mac Server OS and on Mac hardware? I know of a lot of fortune 500 companies run some of their divisions on Microsoft products. Why is this? Also, I believe Pixar's Render Farm is made up of non-xserve hardware.

Answer 1

Mac OS X I think is the best, I have used windows for years and just this year I got a Mac, I have had no problems with it, I have more fun with the software that comes with it, and it takes no time to do what you want to do on a Mac!

Answer 2

It's pretty well-known that Windows is the most vulnerable- but that's not necessarily because Microsoft is incompetent: about 90% of computers run Windows, so it makes more sense for virus-makers and other bad folk to make malware which targets Windows. If you make a Linux-only virus, then only about 1% of computer users would be hurt by it. That's not the sort of massive-damage that virus-makers want.

I'd say that Linux is the most secure, in the end, but Mac has had more work put into it by professionals. Just use a good antivirus, whatever OS you choose.

Answer 3

(Sorry, as a dialup user, I don't have the time or patience to get to the Symantec pdf document, but then, I suspect Symantec has a vested interest in promoting their "wedded spouse" Microsoft...)

I've always been a Microsoft user. I see that, in the world, it has the advantage of being "the language spoken" (rather analagous to "English" in the "human tongue" world).

However, Apple certainly has the vast security of having no "registry" to mess with, and that is, as I understand it, one of the main security vulnerabilities of Windows, necessitating continuous round-robins of security fixes on the part of Symantec and their like. (E.g. to install software on Apples, one just moves an executable to a system executables folder, no? Or am I uninformed here?)

Yes, yes, I've seen that Apple is slow to release fixes. I'm eagerly looking for more on security breaches before *I* leap. But Apple's ability to virtualize a Windows system seems somehow very powerful (and does this imply security?)

Answer 4

Windows is the most insecure OS. This is largely due to the basic design of the windows kernel and the fact that it allow to much access for the system services. The underlying design of windows, often requires thet systems services execute with admin privileges, so any security flaw in a service, has admin access when exploited. Microsoft's "close integration" of Internet Explorer into Windows effectively made many web-browser functions into system services. Any application that is Web-enabled can potentially be exploited for admin privileges.
Linux services (called daemons in unix-speak) usually execute with their own user name and as an unprivileged user that can communicate in a limited fashion with the kernel. As a result, a security flay in the service, or any client that uses the service is not likely to gain administrative privileges. In addition, application files are usually installed as read-only, requiring owner privileges to update, delete or overwrite, thus making it extremely unlikely that a virus attach itself to any executable, since the virus would have to convince the kernel that it owned the executable before it could alter it.
Mac OS X is actually based on a unix descendent that many consider to be more secure than linux: BSD (Berkely System Distribution ). I am not familiar enough with OS X to comment beyond that.
There is more malware for Windows that with linux or Mac OS X, simply because it provides a more virus friendly environment. You should als note that most of the worm programs for windows are written in visual basic for applications which is the Microsoft -proprietary scripting language for their Office software products, and has access to many Web-enabled features. Getting patches out quicly is good, but every application installed on Windos is a potential security risk that OS patches do not address, simply because the infrastructure itself in inherently insecure..
Unix derived OSes, including Linux and Mac OS X, are virus-unfriendly by design.
Response time to security risks in only part of the story. the Serverity of the risks in more important.

Answer 5

Not in the world, however they are pretty much an industry leader, (although people do not like to admit it!) but if you look at the facts:
Mac was first to allow image and text to be shown on screen at the same time, (i.e work with images and text in the same document.)
Mac was first to offer "commercial" connection to the Internet, (the i-mac)
You just need to look at Microsoft vista and Mac osX to notice the strange similarities, http://pulsar.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/graphics/movies/Gates-Praising-the-Macintosh.mov - think that probably explains why, (early bill gates!!) ( The new vista OS is like the older apple, w8 for mac leopard!
Security wise - Pc's are pretty pathetic when it comes to viruses, I spend half the time downloading stupid updates for anti virus etc, Macs are generally more secure, however the odd virus has been released for the mac it is usually resolved with a system update of some sort to block it out.
As for Linux, I believe it won't be to long before we start to see viruses appearing in them, although the open source programs used are quite respectable, you may be restricting yourself to what you can actually do with your PC

Answer 6

Linux was based on Unix. Unix/Linux was built to be secure from the ground up. And since there are fewer people using Linux most hackers ignore it and go for Windows. I run Linux behind a firewall but have no antivirus or antispyware programs working for them. I have both for my Windows machines. I don't use Macs but I think they are fairly secure too.

Answer 7

Bottom line windows was not built to be on the Internet or a network(because of its underlying DOS). There are tons of Linux equipment out there that people would love to bring to its knees w/ a virus but it can be avoided with first grade knowledge of how Linux operates.

Mac now has BSD as its underlying system. So it now has a little muscle. It is better

RJ

Answer 8

even when I have windows based computer @ my office & home the best OS is MacOS 4 sure, just see how microsoft keeps copying them since the very begining when we had 50 Hz computers running on 4 Mbs of ram, and now with the "realease" of vista, MacOS 4 sure is the best OS and apple computers won't crash as the PC line does :) . . .