[ Thanks to Noel
for this link. ]
“Unix has an undeserved reputation for poor network security.
There is no inherent design defect in Unix that has led to this
reputation — unless providing a rich collection of network
services is considered a security defect. Close examination of the
superior security claims of proprietary system vendors reveals that
they rest upon a dearth of networking services and the infamous
“security through obscurity” policy available only to products of
limited market penetration. No proprietary operating system
compares favorably to Unix when the disparate and widespread usage,
along with the rich variety of network services, are taken into
account. As other operating systems come to compete with Unix in
the Internet server space, the difficulty of providing such
services with high levels of security will become ever more
obvious.”
“That said, there really are significant network security
vulnerabilities with virtually every version of this large and
complex operating system.”
“Unix derives its bad security reputation from four primary
sources; its rich variety of network services, the prominance of
wide-open academic institutions in Unix antiquity, the extensive
Unix documentation available, and, perhaps most important, the
traditional practice of shipping Unix with many services
automatically enabled by the installation process.”