Many discussion boards across the globe have spent the last six days - including the weekend - debating the rise in digital attacks recorded against Linux systems and a fall in the case of Microsoft Windows for the last three months as announced by the mi2g Intelligence Unit on 3rd June.

Some of the conclusions on the discussion boards are inflammatory and include allegations of conspiracy amongst vendors to show Linux to be inferior. mi2g is an independent organisation and not associated with any software vendor in any way. In fact, mi2g is a long term supporter of Open Source Software (OSS) and deploys OSS and proprietary technology within its Bespoke Security Architecture solutions.

As Linux becomes more mainstream and achieves a larger market share, it is inevitable that the number of attacks against Linux systems will rise. On the most part the attacks recorded in May by mi2g can be attributed to bad system administration and an incorrect belief in the inherent superiority of Open Source out-of-the-box operating system, server and application security.

Just as the Windows world requires diligence and knowledge to keep abreast of the exploits and issues, so too must a Linux administrator be conscious of his servers, services, and potential breaches. This is not happening at present in a satisfactory way.

With the right toolset, safety configuration, settings and security procedures, most operating systems including Windows and Linux can be made robust at least to the point that they are much less likely to become a statistic on the mi2g SIPS database.

Best wishes and thank you

 

DK Matai

Executive Chairman, mi2g