Linux: security through obscurity?

Linux: security through obscurity?

Posted Nov 12, 2004 23:40 UTC (Fri) by drtr1 (guest, #26002)
Parent article: Linux: security through obscurity?

I believe that the eWeek article is making a relevant point, which the
author here may have missed.

From an epidemiological point of view, if a certain fraction of the
individuals (computers) within a population (the Internet) are suceptible
to infection (a Linux virus), then the success of that infection will
depend critically on what that fraction is, in addition to how infectious
the virus is.

For example, many virus use email and addressbooks - if only 1 in 100
contacts are other Linux machines, then the virus will spread much more
slowly (and be much less succcessful) than a similar Windows virus.

Of course, this doesn't quite apply if Linux users group together in
cliques; then they form monoculture populations which are more susceptible
to infection. Although, as has been pointed out, diversity in the gene
pool (i.e. different distributions) provides infection resistance to the
whole population.

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