You're safer playing with a play-it-safe crowd

Posted Aug 23, 2005 0:05 UTC (Tue) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322)
In reply to: Security Through Obscurity by Felix.Braun
Parent article: The worm that didn't turn up (Guardian)

> using Linux or other Free software is no silver bullet.

True, but the fact that the free software ecosystem is inhabited
largely by security-conscious administrators and more secure
default configurations means that the chance of being compromised
will remain much smaller if you're running such a system. I
reckon this will continue to be true even as free software becomes
a preferred choice; population is significant but perhaps not the
most important variable.

It's like immunisation. As long as a large proportion of the
population is immunised against the old plagues, the incidence
is minuscule; a minority of parents can choose not to inoculate
their children and get away with it. But as the proportion of
unprotected children in schools and kindergartens approaches a
critical mass, epidemics become increasingly likely to recur.