Sun Microsystems' Solaris TM operating environment continues to out-distance Windows NT in the increasingly important area of network security . Microsoft is being criticized for offering only the most basic level of security on its Windows NT 3.5.1, what is known as C2 certification . C2 certification ensures audit capability and basic security protection for logon IDs and passwords. B1 certification provides the next level of protection via mandatory access control of labeled information .
Labeled information is more difficult to circumvent and therefore more secure.
This is true because with labeled information the operating system mediates all access to a file system. Furthermore, the Trusted Solaris operating environment allows customers to use a single server that can segregate information on the basis of its sensitivity. Files containing sensitive data, like salary information or marketing plans, can be protected by labels, a task that is far more difficult to achieve in a Windows NT environment. As the size of an operating system increases, so too the chances that its security will be compromised. Windows NT 5.0 is expected to balloon to 35 million lines of code by the time it is released.