Final

Final Project

Security

Security is paramount when it comes to operating systems and technology. A system can have the most secure hardware but if the core, the operating system is not secure then the whole system is weak. All three different systems addressed in this paper handle security differently. Even though Unix and Linux are similar they still handle the security aspect of the system differently. The majority of the common world thinks Windows to be the least secure in terms of security but this is myth. The fact is that most people use Windows so people find more weaknesses and exploits in this system because it is the system mainly used throughout the world. It is also a myth that Apple or Mac’s are extremely secure but this is not the case it is just the opposite of Windows were it is not the most commonly known system.

Unix is just a type of operating system that can be built. There are many versions of Unix and these security features can vary because of this. Unix uses Discretionary Access Control known as DAC. DAC allows the owner of a file to set the security policy to that file. For example a person can create a file in the \etc directory and choose who they want to read and write to the file. The policy is than set as a permission bit attached to the file, which is normally set by the owner of the file. The permissions that are set on the files are read and write which may be separately for either the own or a group. The problem with Unix is that was set up in 1969 and not really meant for the Internet age. Unix does not address buggy software or software that requires superuser as normally once they are compromised they can have full access to the system.

Linux has many flavors just like Unix but is more secure but still sits on the basis of DAC. Linux has a POSIX Access control lists and are based on a draft POSIX standard. POSIX extended the abbreviated DAC ACLs to a much finer detail, which allows separate...