This surprising news comes from the National Vulnerability Database which is a US government repository of standards based vulnerability management data. It details security issues detected in different operating systems and software titles.

We say "surprising" as only the Tame Apple Press actually believes that Apple iOS is secure, although the Linux figure did surprise us.
In 2014, it is OS X that was found to be riddled with the greatest number of security problems -- 147 in total, including 64 rated as high severity, and 67 as medium. Also from the Apple stables, iOS did not fare all that much better: 127 vulnerabilities including 32 high and 72 with a medium rating.

Windows 8.1 had only 36 vulnerabilities, while its predecessors, Windows 8 and 7 both had the same number. For enterprise users, Windows Server 2007 and 2008 both have 38 vulnerabilities. Windows is reported as having no vulnerabilities of low severity; they cluster under the medium and high labels.

There was a huge increase in the number security vulnerabilities in the database. In 2013 the number stood at 4,794, but this shot up to 7,038 in 2014. A lower percentage are rated as high severity, but the number has still increased.