No, Linux is not “more secure” than Windows
No, Linux is not “more secure” than Windows
https://www.howtogeek.com/no-linux-is-not-more-secure/
Publish Date: 2026-01-30 11:00:00
Source Domain: www.howtogeek.com
In Linux communities, especially among those new to the scene, I often see people hailing Linux as a security powerhouse in contrast to other operating systems. They imply that switching to Linux gives you some kind of shield of armor against common threats.
That would be nice for me, as someone using Linux all day throughout the week. Unfortunately, none of it’s true, and I’m going to explain why.
Open source has its own security problems
The most frequently-cited reason that Linux is more secure than the likes of Windows, ChromeOS, and macOS is that, unlike them, Linux distributions are open source. For the uninitiated, an open source project is one whose codebase is publicly available to view, and usually to copy and edit too.
The logic goes that so long as code is exposed for scrutiny by all, security issues and malicious changes naturally get speedy attention and fixing. Meanwhile, proprietary “closed source” code, like what Windows runs on, is a black box. Its vulnerabilities only a select-few know about and have any power to fix. While that juxtaposition makes open source sound ideal, reality is more complicated.
The narrative’s accuracy hinges on someone actually doing thorough code audits. That takes time and effort, and there’s often no monetary reward for it. Meanwhile, bad actors have a ton of financial incentive to find and exploit vulnerabilities, and that’s easier to do on open source software than on closed.
Infamous Linux vulnerabilities like Shellshock existed for decades before being found by someone willing to disclose them. That’s to say nothing of the malware is regularly found in public Linux repositories, and there have been numerous security issues with NPM throughout the years.
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