RE: [school-discuss] Linux security fears fanned in press

["Jones, Gregory James" <JJONES2@bsu.edu>]

You have to look at the methods used in the article.  This is a
study made by ONE company.  From that, as ZDnet often does, the
existance of attacks is extropolated to the Internet.  These numbers
don't mesh.  Any researcher will tell you that such a study based on
one company in one country does not make a random enough sample to
day any sort of MEANINGFUL statistical analysis.

Also, to have that many "successful" attacks suggests unpatched
systems (on windows or linux) which further suggests that Mi2g may
be a poor system integrator and doesn't know how to properly install
systems.  If anything it is an advertisement that the company may
need to re-evaluate its skill set.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: david@members.iteachnet.org=20
Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 11:03 AM
To: david@members.iteachnet.org; schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net

Subject: [school-discuss] Linux security fears fanned in press


A friend sent me this piece in Edupage citing a ZDnet article
saying=20
"successful" attacks on Linux were up in the first six months of the
=
year (up=20
20 percent) while those on MS were down the same amount. They don't
=
mention=20
the difference in the kind of attack. I'll copy the article here for
=
you. What

do you think the best way to respond to this type of press is
(besides=20
applying patches to known holes, of course ;-0)

David

Article:
STUDY SHOWS INCREASE IN LINUX ATTACKS, DECREASE FOR MICROSOFT=20
A new study from U.K. company Mi2g shows a significant increase
in=20
successful attacks on Linux systems for the first half of the
year,=20
compared to a 20 percent decline in successful attacks against
systems=20
running Microsoft's Internet Information Server. Mi2g's data
showed=20
an increase of more than 30 percent, from 5,736 to 7,630, in
successful=20
Linux attacks and an overall increase in attacks of 27 percent.
The=20
study is based on Mi2g's coverage of more than 600 hacker groups
and=20
60,000 hacking attempts since 1995, including data from the
Computer=20
Security Institute and the FBI. The study also shows significant=20
declines in successful attacks against U.K. and U.S. governments,=20

attributing the change in part to increased security efforts
since=20
September 11.=20
ZDNet, 15 July 2002=20
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-943879.html=20
--=20
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