Linux Gets A Security Look

Whichever side you take in the recent flap over an analyst's estimate of Linux security risks, there's comfort to be taken in the questions being raised and debates being raged. They're another sign that Linux is coming of age.

The Forrester Research report comparing Linux and Windows security risks came on the heels of a variety of positive Linux-related security news. Red Hat's announcement of enhanced security in its next release of Enterprise Linux addressed growing enterprise interest in the platform, while Finnish anti-virus company F-Secure extended its open-source protection from central virus scans to Linux workstations.

A further reminder of the operating system's growing success is Progeny's extension of security-patch support for Red Hat Linux 9, which will take effect the day Red Hat ceases supporting the product.

All of which comes as open-source security is getting good grades from some educational users. Federal government endorsement came with last year's announcement of Linux security certification.

The fact that Linux is facing the same level of security scrutiny as Windows is, as noted, heartening. Less so will be the increased efforts by some to find and exploit vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel, which will force users to learn the right and wrong ways to deploy Linux patches.