How secure are open source operating systems?
The most common open source systems (Linux or FreeBSD) are generally considered fairly secure. Thus far, most of the malicious cracking of systems has been focused on the Windows platform. Often these exploits take advantage of features that were built into Windows to facilitate data exchange between applications. Linux and Mac OS10 are not immune to cracking, but they appear to have less vulnerability at this time. The open source community is security conscious and is constantly monitoring the security reports from all of its users. Patches and new versions of the open source are issued regularly. We recommend that users establish a procedure for regularly downloading and installing these patches.
