14 DAY TRIAL // Hundreds of thousands of Windows computers were infected since last Friday by WannaCry, a new type of ransomware that exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft’s operating system that was discovered by the NSA, but then stolen and leaked online by hacking group Shadow Brokers.
While Microsoft and security experts alike are urging everyone to patch computers and are providing all kinds of recommendation to avoid getting infected by WannaCry, the Linux world is once again celebrating the moment, praising the security of the open-source platform as compared to the one offered by Windows.
The Windows vs. Linux battle in terms of security is not a new topic, and it has its roots back in the late 90s when Windows systems were the preferred target of virus writers. While Windows users struggled to clean their systems and find an antivirus solution to protect their data, Linux adopters had nothing to worry about, as their own platform was completely secure with no risk of infection whatsoever.
Fast forward to 2017 and here is the WannaCry ransomware infection that’s taking Windows by surprise and, once again, without doing any harm to Linux. Instead, some in the Linux world are actually trying to benefit from the Windows fiasco by highlighting how secure the platform actually is, in an attempt to convince users to jump ship.
“Want an operating system that’s secure?”
The creators of Linux Lite, one of the many Linux distributions out there, used this occasion to praise Linux, emphasizing that there were more than 200,000 Windows systems infected by WannaCry since Friday.
“Still need another reason to move to a free and open source based operating system like Linux Lite? Payments to the Wannacry ransomware hackers to date $50,000 Windows is proving to be very profitable to hackers,” they say in a post today.
Truth be told, there are many users out there who’re tempted to make the switch to Linux, just because Windows proved to be insecure once again. And yet, this isn’t entirely accurate.
First of all, the vulnerability that’s being exploited by WannaCry has already been patched by Microsoft earlier this year, so if you are running fully up-to-date Windows, you’re completely secure. This means that up-to-date Windows is just as secure as Linux when it comes to WannaCry, so it makes no sense to switch to Linux.
On the other hand, those who’re running an older Windows version that no longer receives support, like Windows XP, are getting a dedicated patch in this regard as well, so again, a patched Windows system is no different from Linux in terms of protection against WannaCry.
In the end, however, WannaCry certainly hurts Windows’ image, and certainly there are users who are making the jump to Linux because of this ransomware. Not too many, that’s for sure, but enough to bring back the Windows vs. Linux security controversy.