OSS, the order said, “is almost free of virus. Hence loss of information, hacking, phishing can be prevented… there is no need to spend on expensive anti virus software.”
I disagree with that statement.
I disagree with that statement.
This isn't to say that Linux is wholly immune to security exploits. It's not. But it's hugely more manageable and securable than Windows is, even in more recent versions. Which, though they've addressed much of the problem, still leave huge classes of vulnerabilities open.
The ability to configure minimal systems on Linux (principle of least privilege) with only the software and services required for functionality helps hugely in this.
Imho, the main issue is more in:
- setting up the right set of policies, it's a difficult task. On a unix system, the problem is probably easier to tackle because the first (simpler) layer of security implemented through the file system (linux for instance provides a more elaborated capability mechanism, many others unix also each have their own implementations of a policy/capability mechanism).
- letting end users having too much control on their computer, because often time they wish to install all sort of products on their own (this is especially true of developpers, but usually computer literates are more security minded than the lambda user). With web apps, this problem is nowadays shifted toward the browser, so maybe this problem isn't as much of an issue as it was 10 years ago for system wide policy enforcement (but as I said it is now one at the browser level).