The Denver Post carries a story which clearly shows just how insecure Windows XP SP1 is compared to other Operating Systems
According to the story, StillSecure, a Louisville-based network security firm, connected six computers - with six operating systems - to the Internet for a week without any virus protection. Over the course of a week, the machines were scanned a total of 46,255 times by computers around the world that crawl the Web looking for vulnerabilities in operating systems.
Once the vulnerabilities were identified, the remote computers launched 4,892 direct attacks with a staggering variety of worms, Trojan Horses, viruses, spyware and other forms of malware.
The test examined only what happens when computers are turned on and connected to the Internet. The test didn’t evaluate additional dangers that computer users face when they use e-mail, surf the Web, click on Internet links or use file-sharing programs.
Here’s what happened:
Windows XP Service Pack 1Attacks: 4,857
Results: Attacked successfully within 18 minutes by the Blaster and Sasser worms. Within an hour, the computer was taken over and began attacking other Windows machines.
Windows XP Service Pack 2Attacks: 16
Results: Survived all attacks
Apple Mac OS X JaguarAttacks: 3
Results: Survived all attacks
Linux, Suse Professional 9.2Attacks: 8
Results: Survived all attacks
Linux, Fedora Core 3Attacks: 8
Results: Survived all attacks
Linux Red Hat 9Attacks: 0
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