Windows web server more secure than Linux, says unpublished study

Good thing this study was not ’slanted’ at all! Ya, apparently Linux servers are not as secure as Windows servers. OK, this would be fine until you look at the amazing amount of crap that can take down a ’secured’ Windows server in a hurry. Look, if this is really the case and Windows servers are more secure, fine. Heck, I am still a huge fan of Windows 2000 Pro for my desktop. So it is not like I think that Microsoft cannot do anything right or anything like that. But more secure that Linux? Don’t think so. It may in some cases be cheaper, but stating that it’s more secure is not something that I am buying into.

In a comparison of Windows Server 2003 and Red Hat Enterprise Server 3, two researches believe that they found Windows Server to be more secure in the areas that they investigated, namely general web hosting, databases, and server-side scripting engines. The study and its methodology will not be published for another 30 days, but the Seattle Times says that their method “included the number of reported vulnerabilities and their severity, as well as the number of patches issued and days of risk—the period from when a vulnerability is first reported to when a patch is issued.” It must be emphasized that included does not mean solely based on, and we imagine that there are other factors, as well. Furthermore, it should also be stressed that the tests are about web serving, not surfing. The tests do not assume that someone is logging in as administrator, disabling the trusted zones in IE, and surfing porno sites with it. You get the gist.