Linux vs. Microsoft: Who Solves Security Problems Faster?

By Jim Reavis

Microsoft 1999 Advisory Analysis
Issue	Vendor Advisory	Community Awareness	Days of Hacker Recess
IIS Esc char	12/21/99	12/21/99	0
HTML mail attach	12/22/99	12/22/99	0
TDS Packet Header	12/20/99	11/17/99	33
IIS virtual dir	12/21/99	12/21/99	0
Malformed SID	12/16/99	12/16/99	0
Syskey	12/16/99	11/01/99	45
Services.exe	12/09/99	10/31/99	39
WPAD	12/01/99	12/01/99	0
SSL Isapi	12/02/99	12/02/99	0
Credential Caching	11/29/99	07/06/99	146
IE Task Scheduler	11/30/99	11/30/99	0
Server Side Redirect	12/08/99	12/08/99	0
File Access URL	11/12/99	11/09/99	3
Active Setup	11/11/99	11/08/99	3
Spooler	11/04/99	11/04/99	0
TCP Seq	10/22/99	08/24/99	59
VM Verifier	10/21/99	10/11/99	10
Excel SYLK	10/20/99	10/19/99	1
Javascript Redirect	11/17/99	10/18/99	30
IFRAME	10/15/99	10/11/99	4
RASMAN	09/30/99	09/17/99	13
Download behavior	10/08/99	09/27/99	11
Domain, ftp	09/30/99	09/23/99	7
Spoofed Route	09/20/99	09/20/99	0
ImportExportFavorites	09/24/99	09/09/99	15
Unattend.txt	09/10/99	06/11/99	91
Cookie Header	09/10/99	09/10/99	0
IGMP	09/09/99	07/06/99	65
Telnet	09/09/99	08/15/99	25
Scriptlet.typelib	8/31/99	8/21/99	10
VM Sandbox	08/25/99	08/25/99	0
ODBC Vulnerabilities	08/20/99	07/29/99	22
Malformed HTTP	08/11/99	08/11/99	0
Terminal Server	08/09/99	08/09/99	0
Encapsulated SMTP	08/06/99	08/06/99	0
Dialer	07/29/99	07/29/99	0
ODBC RDS	07/19/99	05/26/99	54
IOCTLs	07/06/99	07/06/99	0
Malformed Image	06/30/99	06/30/99	0
Double Byte Code Page	06/24/99	06/24/99	0
CSSRS.EXE	06/23/99	04/09/99	75
Malformed LSA Request	06/23/99	06/23/99	0
Malformed HTR Request	06/18/99	06/08/99	10
Malformed Favorites Icon	05/27/99	05/03/99	24
RAS Password	05/27/99	05/27/99	0
Malformed Phonebook Entry	05/20/99	05/19/99	1
Malformed Help File	05/17/99	05/17/99	0
Excel Virus Warning	05/07/99	03/29/99	39
File Viewers	05/07/99	05/07/99	0
MSHTML	04/21/99	04/09/99	12
DHTML Edit	04/21/99	03/24/99	28
Personal Web Server	03/26/99	01/17/99	68
Malformed Bind Request	03/16/99	03/15/99	1
Screen Saver	03/12/99	03/09/99	3
Taskpads	02/22/99	02/22/99	0
KnownDLLs	03/05/99	02/18/99	15
BackOffice Install	02/12/99	02/09/99	3
SP4	02/08/99	02/08/99	0
Malformed FTP List	02/03/99	01/24/99	10
Word 97 Template	01/21/99	01/14/99	7
Forms Textbox Control	01/21/99	01/21/99	0
Total Days of Recess:			982
Total Advisories:			61
Days of Recess per Advisory:			16.10