On Thu, 2 Jan 2003, Chris Hunter wrote:

> Did you get that the wrong way 'round?  No *nix box I've ever configured or
> worked on has EVER been hacked, and EVERY Windows installation I have had
> the misfortune to have to work on for any time has invariably caught one or
> other virus!!

My fault -- neglected to fix one of those relatively rare holes, I think
it was in OpenSSH.  Box got rootkitted by a script kiddie, managed to get
it cleaned up enough to continue running for a few months after that
though.  In my defense, it was my first Solaris setup for firewall use.

On the other hand we have the server population at a certain well known
web based company I happen to know well.  Population of external servers
is (or was at the time) 50-odd UNIX and two Windows.  In four years, no
UNIX machine has ever been hacked or brought down by a DOS attack.  The
Windows machines are a different matter entirely.  Both groups, by the
way, are maintained by top notch, very skilled and highly compensated
engineers specific to the OS, so it's not a matter of UNIX guys screwing
up a Windows box.

In contrast to my Solaris screwup, my own Linux box is my firewall/web
server/mail server/DNS as well as running Samba for Windows shares, FTP,
remote access to the home network, and about anything else imaginable.
It's been on a cable modem for over four years, and has never been hacked.
I see 'em trying every day, so much so that I completely ignore all the
attacks now, as they are completely insignificant.  It replaced an NT 4
machine that I couldn't keep running more than a day at a time without a
reboot (RAS was buggy as a roach motel), and I was a pretty good NT guy at
the time.

But waitaminute - are we seeing old threads repeated again???  I could
swear we went through this exact same conversation a few months ago.
maybe we need to add it to the FAQ - "Some people like Windows and think
it's great.  Some don't.  None of them are changing their mind much.
Arguing doesn't help."

Dale

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