Linux, Unix as risky as Windows
ZDNet | at | by Mike
Some people will dismiss the report as Microsoft-sponsored hot air, but the raw data is there for everyone to see in CERT's Advisories and Incident Notes, giving legitimacy to The Aberdeen Group's conclusion that open-source operating systems in general, the new Mac OS X, and critical security programs themselves, aren't as safe as many proponents suggest.
The underlying data is worth a close look. No new Windows platform virus or Trojan CERT advisories were issued in the period of January 2002 through October 2002. CERT's confirmed vulnerabilities list shows that the threat level is growing faster for Linux/Unix platforms than for Windows. This could be a statistical anomaly due to the much larger number of Linux/Unix versions (although there are actually fewer versions available now, as there has been consolidation in both the Linux and Unix markets in recent years). So the number of threats is growing while the number of Linux/Unix versions is shrinking.