Star 'Linux Ignored, Not Immune,' Says Hacker Contest Sponsor
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 3rd Apr 2008 19:59 UTC, submitted by daedalus8
Privacy, Security, Encryption People shouldn't read anything into the fact that of the three laptops set up for last week's 'PWN to OWN' hack challenge, the only one left standing was running Linux, said the security expert who oversaw the contest. "There was just no interest in Ubuntu," said Terri Forslof, manager of security response at 3Com Corp.'s TippingPoint subsidiary, which put up the cash prizes awarded at the contest last week at CanSecWest. "A contest such as this is not a measure of relative security between operating systems. It's not an accurate barometer."
E-mail Print r 1   52 Comment(s) http://osne.ws/f3n
Permalink for comment 307929
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Comment by anomie
by anomie on Thu 3rd Apr 2008 20:34 UTC
anomie
Member since:
2007-02-26

"It was actually a lack of interest" on the part of the PWN to OWN contestants, Forslof said. "[Shane Macaulay's] exploit would have worked on Linux. He could have knocked it over. But [the contestants] get a lot more mileage out of attacks on the Mac or Windows," she continued.


IMO, an extension of this statement/logic is that you get the most mileage out of the most widely used OS. Therefore:
* You get the most mileage out of a Windows attack.
* You get the next most mileage out of a Mac OS X attack.
* You get the next most mileage out of an Ubuntu attack.

The results don't reflect that, though. The Mac was pwned first, and the Vista box second. Ubuntu didn't get cracked, in spite of incentives to do so ($$).

I'm not sure exactly what this means, and it's certainly possible Ubuntu could have been cracked just as easily as Vista, but the quoted "explanation" seems shaky to me.

Reply Bookmark Score: 10