Evans Data polled a bunch of Linux developers and says 92% report never being infected by a virus. And 78% of them said they had never been hacked.

Presumably Google, with its gargantuan Linux server farm, wishes it could say that, but, alas, it can't - after it was taken down the other day in a denial of service attack.

Anyway, of those surveyed that have been hacked, roughly 7% said it had happened three or more times and 23% attributed the intrusions to internal users with valid IDs.

By contrast, Evans says three in five "non-Linux developers" - by which we take it they mean Microsoft people - have reported security breaches and 32% said it had happened three or more times.

Evans says the main reasons Linux sites are breached are: inadequately configured security settings, vulnerabilities in their Internet service and flaws in their Web servers. Evans says the main reason Linux is more secure is the open source development process.

Of course, according to some detractors, the open source process itself is a security hazard, but the faithful discount that threat.

• Open-Source Security: Better Protection at a Lower Cost
• Linux Firewalls ...and their advantages over Windows
• Experts: Worry more about insiders than cyberterrorism
• Linux security basics
• Bob Toxen's Linux security tips
• Implementing IPSec on Linux
• Top 10 Linux/Unix Internet Security Vulnerabilities
• Linux Kernel Compromise "Was Not Debian Specific."
• Linux Kernel Vulnerability Found...and Fixed
• Linux Community Aware of the "Gotchas" of OS Security, Says OSDL's Hunter
• Linux Attacks On the Rise, Says Report - But It's Not As Simple As That
• Dan O'Dowd Reminds World of UNIX Creator Ken Thompson's Security Stunt
• "Foreign Powers Will Deploy Spies to Infiltrate Linux," Argues O'Dowd
• Security Takes Lead in Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• "Every Principle of Security is Being Violated," Says O'Dowd
• "Evil" Linux Must Be Stopped From Compromising U.S. Defense, Says O'Dowd
• Open Source for Perimeter Security