First go back and read all of my edits. Then compare your search to my specific ones:
Results 1 - 10 of about 24,300 for linux security hole "gain root access". (0.21 seconds)
Mine:
Results 1 - 10 of about 4,730,000 for windows exploit remote access. (0.10 seconds)
Results 1 - 10 of about 205,000 for windows "specially crafted" view. (0.20 seconds)
Results 1 - 10 of about 170,000 for windows virus remote attacker "complete control". (0.20 seconds)
two obvious ones:
Personalized Results 1 - 10 of about 93,500,000 for windows virus. (0.09 seconds)
Results 1 - 10 of about 315,000 for "linux virus". (0.26 seconds)
Personalized Results 1 - 10 of about 3,200,000 for "windows virus". (0.25 seconds)
The results for "linux virus" are 99.9% people discussing the possibility of a linux virus, if any.
The results for "windows virus" are 99.9% people discussing new windows viruses and how to protect against them.
http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/bliss/This is an article about the one one of the few things that ever came close to a virus for linux and other UNIX based operating systems. The author mocks it, and even the person who wrote the virus pretty much mocks the notion of trying to create a virus for *NIX. They did it to show the most that a virus could do, which is just infect the one user's files (not the whole system like 99% of windows viruses do). The only way it can compromise the entire system is by running the virus as root... which is like giving someone the keys to your car... anyone who knows anything about using a computer just doesn't do that. Even so, this does not have the ability to infect other systems or propagate in any way. Windows viruses are notorious for scanning networks and being able to spread itself through holes in services provided by just about every running windows machine, including the notoriously bad Windows networking stacks themselves.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=linux+security+hole+%22gain+root+access%22&btnG=Search
Running unpatched Linux can be as dangerous as running unpatched Windows - end of story.
I've been tought that there are far less viruses able to infect Linux systems than Windows systems. Are they wrong?
Yes, there has never been a virus that has been able to spread itself through linux systems (notice the plural). ever. The only way these bugs in the kernel can be used to gain root access is through very specific and targeted attacks.
In order to be a virus, it not only has to be able to infect the
system that it resides on (not just user files), but it also needs to be able to attack and infect other computers via some means. Linux networking abilities are hardened to protect from deliberate attack of any sort, and very few holes have ever been found in this.
Much of the security in *NIX comes from the model it follows of being a proper layered operating system. Windows is a great example of how to completely ignore this very good model. Go read about it for more information
there are occasional flaws found by people to gain root access to linux systems. These flaws are found by experts reading the
entire and well-documented kernel code rather than by people who randomly find and exploit vast numbers windows bugs and security holes.
The same goes for how these security firms find the security holes in firefox or any other OSS. They look through the source code for the applications and find coding bugs that anyone could make. This isn't possible with Windows or IE, since they're closed source. There are thousands of exploitable bugs and security holes in windows/ie but they're not discovered nor fixed yet due to the fact that it is 100% closed source.
You will see people point to the analysis of the Firefox code that showed something like 600 bugs and a "large number" of "security risks." This is useless information for trying to drag FX down to IE's level until the IE source code can be analyzed.
People and firms have done analysis on the IE binary to try and do the same hting, and they found (maybe tens of) thousands of bugs and security holes. They would find far more if they had access to the actual source.
I do not have the links to either of those, so I use them to support my argument but not as a main backbone of it.
There's a reason that I run Linux on the server that runs the forums and my soldat servers, as do a vast majority of hobbyist and business server owners/sysadmins. Also, in my free time I do research and "detective work" on the origins of spam, calling sysadmins to let them know that their computers are sending out spam.
By the way... 99% of these systems are virus infected windows machines. The Linux machines that are sending spam are improperly configured and are just a matter of hanging one line in a configuration file to stop it from doing so. The windows machines are virus-infected servers and generally require a complete system reinstall.
I'm going to sleep, but I want to leave with this:
I am not saying that Linux, FX, and other pieces of FOSS software are without their bugs and problems. That said, the fact is
100% undisputable that these softwares are orders of magnitudes (to say the least) more secure and bug-free than the stuff sold by Microsoft as a core operating system and browser.
To each his own, you can do what you want. I'll be here with my more efficient and more secure operating system, browser, and other software
