Such disclosures highlight the fact that Microsoft isn't the only vendor with security problems, although it often gets the most criticism, said Steven Gelfound, IT director of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va.

'They're just in a situation where everyone is gunning for them,' Gelfound said. '[But] it's not that any one operating system or application is more secure than the other. Given enough time and computing resources, you can crack just about anything out there.'

In fact, based on information provided by each of the vendors, Microsoft disclosed a total of 12 vulnerabilities over the past three months, compared with 167 for Oracle, 18 for Cisco and eight for Sun Microsystems Inc.

Center of attention

A lot of the attention that Microsoft gets has to do with the fact that its security vulnerabilities typically 'cause the most pain' because of its huge user base and the arduous task of patching desktop PCs, especially inside large companies, said John Pescatore, an analyst at Gartner Inc.