New Windows boxes under heavy fire, Linux largely untouched

There will be more new Windows computers booting up than those running
Linux after the most recent season of giving. But there’s no safety in
numbers; recent analysis and expert opinion indicates the Microsoft
machines will be quickly and heavily targeted by attackers, while Linux
computers are largely left alone.

Security experts have long warned that new Windows machines are quickly
scanned, prodded and spywared, but the vulnerability gap was highlighted
more concretely in recent Honeynet
Project findings. The group’s most recent trend
analysis revealed that while the time window on Windows security is
getting shorter, the safe life of Linux computing has extended from a few
days to a few months.