Stating the obvious, News.com and the Honeynet Project report that it takes an average of three months to compromise an unpatched Linux machine, compared to 10 minutes that it takes to compromise a Windows machine after it is plugged into the network, as we wrote in November. The Honeynet Project also reports that a similar study in 2001 revealed that it took an average of 72 hours to compromise a Linux system - this shows a great improvement in the Linux configuration and kernel to fend-off most of the attacks.

The two main reasons that the Honeynet Project researchers cite are 1) the hardened default configurations that Linux comes with; and 2) the fact that hackers are concentrating on attacking Windows machines as their return on time invested is greater (and you thoight that hackers didn’t obey the laws of economics?)

“Everybody is focused on Windows,” Spitzner [Honeynet’s president] said. “There is more money (for an attacker) to be made on the Windows systems.”

This research shows the ever-increasing security gap between Windows and Linux, in general, although I am not aware of any Linux distribution that is not more secure than any Windows installation. It shows that for mission critical applications, be it server applications, or even reliable desktops, Linux is the better choice.