Violet Lieby
831.425.8063
vlieby@evansdata.com
Eighty Percent Have Never Been Hacked
SANTA CRUZ, CA, July 28, 2004 -
Ninety two percent of survey respondents indicated that their Linux systems have never been infected with a virus, according to Evans Data’s new Summer 2004 Linux Development Survey. Further, 78% of Linux developers say that their Linux systems have never been hacked and less than 7% were hacked three or more times. Of the 22% that have been hacked, 23% of the intrusions were by internal users with valid login ID’s. The main ways that Linux machines can be compromised are: Inadequately configured security settings, vulnerability in internet service and Web server flaws.
Linux Development Survey Sample #1
Linux Development Survey Sample #2
Contrast those findings with data from Evans’ Spring 2004 North American Development Survey where 3 in 5 non-Linux developers reported a security breach and 32% experienced 3 or more breaches.
North American Development Survey
“It’s not surprising that Linux systems aren’t hacked to the degree that Windows-based machines can be exploited. The reasons for the greater inherent security of the Linux OS are simple, more eyes on the code means that less slips by and the OS is naturally going to be better secured,†said Nicholas Petreley, Evans Data’s Linux analyst. “As also found in Evans’ recently released Security Development Survey, the mechanism by which a Linux machine can be compromised is by users inadequately configuring security settings. Ironically, the other flaws that crackers use to compromise Linux servers are flaws in applications which run on competing operating systems, so those vulnerabilities are not specific to Linux.†Security Development Issues
Other findings from the July survey of 500 Linux developers:
- Developer migration to the 2.6 Kernel has increased significantly in six months, rising by more than 80% with only 12% expecting to take longer than a year to make the move. Linux Developer Sample
- Seventy-six percent of Linux developers now believe that the SCO lawsuit will “probably not†or “absolutely not†affect their company’s adoption of Linux, up another 8% in the last six months.
Evans Data Corporation provides regularly updated IT industry market intelligence based on in-depth surveys of the global developer population. Evans' syndicated research includes surveys focused on developers in a wide variety of subjects.
Copyright 2007 Evans Data Corporation. All other company names, products and services mentioned in this document are the trademarks and property of their respective owners.
###