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XP weaknesses worry Black Hatters, report says

Sixty-seven percent of participants at Black Hat expressed concern about vulnerabilities in Windows XP.

Candace Lombardi
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET.
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Candace Lombardi

According to an anonymous survey of Black Hat attendees released by Symantec, many are concerned about Windows XP and Vista when it comes to security.

The security company asked them: If you are an IT manager (non-researcher), which operating systems are you currently most concerned with having vulnerabilities? Sixty-seven percent of participants, who were permitted to give a multiple response, had concerns about possible vulnerabilities in the Windows XP platform. This was followed by Windows Vista (31 percent), Linux (19 percent) and Unix (18 percent). Mac OS garnered the least worry, with only 12 percent.

According to the report, 45 percent plan to research operating systems in the next year. More than half of all those surveyed said that they would be researching Windows Vista specifically.

Survey participants could choose more than one reason for what motivated them to research an "application or technology." Fifty-seven percent identified it as part of their job, while 44 percent chose "curiosity." Five percent said that they did it for "fame and credibility."