[ Thanks to Jeremy
Allison for this link. ]
“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.”