Mac OS X and Internet Explorer most vulnerable software in 2014

Since 2011 the number of discovered vulnerabilities in applications, operating systems and hardware has increased significantly. Last year Mac OS X and Internet Explorer contained most leaks, according to numbers of the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) analysed by GFI.

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Last year 7038 new vulnerabilities were added to the NVD database, of which 24% were marked "high severity". 80% of the leaks was found in third-party applications like Java and Flash Player. 13% of the vulnerabilities were found in operating systems and 4% were found in hardware devices.

When it comes to operating systems, Apple is clearly on top. In Mac OS X 147 leaks were discovered followed by 127 vulnerabilities in iOS. The Linux kernel is on the third place with 119 vulnerabilities. Windows contained 35 vulnerabilities and contained a lot less "high severity leaks", 24 of those leaks were found Windows, while Mac OS X and iOS contained 64 and 32 respectively.

Microsoft is on the first place when it comes to vulnerabilities in applications. Internet Explorer contained 242 leaks of which 220 were in the highest category. Chrome is on the second place with 124 leaks of which 86 were classed as high severity. Firefox completes the top 3 with 117 leaks of which 57 were marked high severity.

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GFI is not surprised most vulnerabilities are discovered in browsers as they are a popular gateway to get access to servers and distribute malware. Administrators who want to secure their systems should focus on the operating system, the browser, Java and free software from Adobe.

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