5 ms·

UK Gov Security Assessment puts Ubuntu in First Place [pdf]

24 points by MarcScott 13y ago

nodata 13y ago
Curious: Red Hat is missing from the comparison. I wonder why.
- qwerta 13y ago
  Because it does not run on phone. It is survey about mobile operating systems.
  - mnw21cam 13y ago
    Why does it have non-phone OSes on there, and state that it includes OSes for mobiles and laptops?
- lotsofcows 13y ago
  I'm guessing they only wanted one Linux distro. As a CentOS fan I hate to say it, but for a "normal" user, I'd go for Ubuntu too.
Misha_K1 13y ago
Looks like a rather shallow analysis.
- arethuza 13y ago
  This appears to be a document from a Canonical Sales Engineer summarizing the UK government report.
InTheSwiss 13y ago
God was this put together by some kind of secondary school student on work placement? It 6 pages with close to zero actual content that isn't just copy/pasted from the links they cite. Awful.
- Daviey 13y ago
  No, it was put together by a chap called Darryl Weaver. He's a smart guy, and you are damn rude. It's fine to comment on the lack of deep detail, but the way you have conveyed it has just made you sound like an ass.
  - InTheSwiss 13y ago
    Yes and Darryl Weaver is a Cloud Sales Engineer at Canonical. [0] This is the same as Microsoft doing a report for the government saying Windows is the best desktop OS. In regards to the quality of the document; the tables are horrendously formatted and the note numbers are highlighted as if clickable links (blue underlined) like the links at the bottom of the document but are not actually clickable. Overall the wording in the document is basic and lacks any real information. [0] http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Darryl/Weaver http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Darryl/Weaver
    - Daviey 13y ago
      Yes, it is entirely the same and I would be most surprised if anyone reading didn't realise this. It is sales material, from Canonical to err, help sell its product.. Was this a massive revelation to you? Yes, I agree it's a basic document and I don't disagree with your points... Why didn't you say that to start with, instead of being personally rude about the author? You had to research the author on linkedin, rather than simply looking at the bottom of the PDF where he clearly identifies himself as a Sales Engineer?
      - dmix 13y ago
        > Was this a massive revelation to you? Yes, how about titling the HN thread "Canoncial creates report for UK Government ranking Ubuntu as most secure" Then noone would have upvoted it and you'd have had less opportunity to be condescending.
- noir_lord 13y ago
  It's a summary of those links, instead of having to visit them all you get an overview of the results with links to the relevant supporting evidence. It's actually an interesting overview despite me not been an Ubuntu user.
Bob_Sheep 13y ago
From the original guidance I don't see the government making any claims about Ubuntu being in "First Place" https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/end-user-devices-security-guidance--2 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/end-user-devices-s...
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- Ergomane 13y ago
  Ubuntu and Windows 8 have the same amount of "orange" and "green", but because the latter is grouped with Windows 7 it disappears from the table.
lispsil 13y ago
Android has SEAndroid to fix all those issues.
- nodata 13y ago
  Guess why they chose 4.2...
maerF0x0 13y ago
Where the heck is openBSD ? if its "security" you're trying to assess, why not use the distro that aims to be secure ? Ubuntu aims to be easy . Edit: I previously said "freeBSD", meant "openBSD"
- baldfat 13y ago
  openBSD hacked by FBI in 2010 :) http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/53067-fbi-accused-of-hacking-openbsd http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/53067-fbi-accused-o...
  - cpaone 13y ago
    From what I've read, including the above link, there is some general skepticism about this claim. The code audit that followed the allegations seemed to help iron out even more bugs, making openBSD even more secure. Further info here: http://www.itworld.com/operating-systems/131505/openbsd-chief-believes-contractor-tried-write-backdoors http://www.itworld.com/operating-systems/131505/openbsd-chie... And here: http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=129236621626462&w=2 http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=129236621626462&w=2

24 points by MarcScott 13y ago

nodata 13y ago

Curious: Red Hat is missing from the comparison. I wonder why.

qwerta 13y ago
Because it does not run on phone. It is survey about mobile operating systems.
- mnw21cam 13y ago
  Why does it have non-phone OSes on there, and state that it includes OSes for mobiles and laptops?
lotsofcows 13y ago
I'm guessing they only wanted one Linux distro. As a CentOS fan I hate to say it, but for a "normal" user, I'd go for Ubuntu too.

Misha_K1 13y ago

Looks like a rather shallow analysis.

arethuza 13y ago
This appears to be a document from a Canonical Sales Engineer summarizing the UK government report.

InTheSwiss 13y ago

God was this put together by some kind of secondary school student on work placement? It 6 pages with close to zero actual content that isn't just copy/pasted from the links they cite. Awful.

Daviey 13y ago
No, it was put together by a chap called Darryl Weaver. He's a smart guy, and you are damn rude. It's fine to comment on the lack of deep detail, but the way you have conveyed it has just made you sound like an ass.
- InTheSwiss 13y ago
  Yes and Darryl Weaver is a Cloud Sales Engineer at Canonical. [0] This is the same as Microsoft doing a report for the government saying Windows is the best desktop OS. In regards to the quality of the document; the tables are horrendously formatted and the note numbers are highlighted as if clickable links (blue underlined) like the links at the bottom of the document but are not actually clickable. Overall the wording in the document is basic and lacks any real information. [0] http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Darryl/Weaver http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Darryl/Weaver
  - Daviey 13y ago
    Yes, it is entirely the same and I would be most surprised if anyone reading didn't realise this. It is sales material, from Canonical to err, help sell its product.. Was this a massive revelation to you? Yes, I agree it's a basic document and I don't disagree with your points... Why didn't you say that to start with, instead of being personally rude about the author? You had to research the author on linkedin, rather than simply looking at the bottom of the PDF where he clearly identifies himself as a Sales Engineer?
    - dmix 13y ago
      > Was this a massive revelation to you? Yes, how about titling the HN thread "Canoncial creates report for UK Government ranking Ubuntu as most secure" Then noone would have upvoted it and you'd have had less opportunity to be condescending.
noir_lord 13y ago
It's a summary of those links, instead of having to visit them all you get an overview of the results with links to the relevant supporting evidence. It's actually an interesting overview despite me not been an Ubuntu user.

Bob_Sheep 13y ago

From the original guidance I don't see the government making any claims about Ubuntu being in "First Place" https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/end-user-devices-security-guidance--2 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/end-user-devices-s...

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
Ergomane 13y ago
Ubuntu and Windows 8 have the same amount of "orange" and "green", but because the latter is grouped with Windows 7 it disappears from the table.

lispsil 13y ago

Android has SEAndroid to fix all those issues.

nodata 13y ago
Guess why they chose 4.2...

maerF0x0 13y ago

Where the heck is openBSD ? if its "security" you're trying to assess, why not use the distro that aims to be secure ? Ubuntu aims to be easy . Edit: I previously said "freeBSD", meant "openBSD"

baldfat 13y ago
openBSD hacked by FBI in 2010 :) http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/53067-fbi-accused-of-hacking-openbsd http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/53067-fbi-accused-o...
- cpaone 13y ago
  From what I've read, including the above link, there is some general skepticism about this claim. The code audit that followed the allegations seemed to help iron out even more bugs, making openBSD even more secure. Further info here: http://www.itworld.com/operating-systems/131505/openbsd-chief-believes-contractor-tried-write-backdoors http://www.itworld.com/operating-systems/131505/openbsd-chie... And here: http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=129236621626462&w=2 http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=129236621626462&w=2