"Windows and Unix take diverging
approaches to computer security. Can
both be right?."
"When discussing networks, people often
want to know which is the most secure
system. This is sometimes comes down to
the fundamental question of the operating
system. Is Windows NT a secure
operating system? Is NT more secure than
Unix? The answers to these questions
depend a lot on your philosophy of
computer security...."
"The Unix philosophy of computer security
is fundamentally different. Instead of
focusing on what is actually possible with
today's tools and attacks, it focuses on
what is theoretically possible given the
underlying structure of the operating
system. For example, instead of relying on
complicated file-system structures to
obscure the location of information on a
computer's hard drive, Unix researchers
created cryptographic file systems to
protect data using data encryption.
Microsoft designers could have used
encryption to strengthen NT's ACLs, but
they didn't."
