I recently read a very interesting blog post (read it here) concerning the monthly trends in security flaws in several common computer operating systems (OS), including Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X (versions 10.4 and 10.5). The results may shock you if you are one of the people that believe everything you hear in those funny Mac commercials.
The report was based on data from a 3rd party security analysis company (Secunia). In short, for 2007 the report shows that Windows XP and Vista combined had 44 security vulnerabilities of which 27 were considered Extremely or Highly Critical. In this same time period, Mac OS X (versions 10.4 and 10.5 combined) had 243 security vulnerabilities of which 234 were considered Extremely or Highly Critical. That's over 5.5 times as many in all, and nearly 9 times more in the extreme and high categories!
This didn't really surprise me, because I keep an eye open for these sorts of things, and have seen reports on OS flaws for years. However, nearly everyone that has ever tried to convince me that I should switch to a Mac has used the "fact" that they are "more secure" as one of their biggest points. This report clearly shows that this is just not the case. Sorry Mr. Jobs.
Regardless of which OS you choose for your next computer, you need to be sure that you are always on guard against security flaws and should always install any security patches that are made available by the OS vendor.
Also, remember that the only way to make your computer 100% safe from hackers is to turn it off and lock it up...and if you watch enough spy movies, even that won't do it. : )
Have a Merry Christmas!
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