J. Craig Woods wrote: > Good food for thought. The only effective opposition is an INFORMED > opposition. > > drjung > > Study: Open source poses security risks > > By Matthew Broersma > Special to ZDNet > June 3, 2002 > > A conservative U.S. think tank suggests in an upcoming report that > open-source software > is inherently less secure than proprietary software, and warns > governments against relying on it for national security. > > The white paper, Opening the Open Source Debate, from the Alexis de > Tocqueville Institution (ADTI) will suggest that open source opens the > gates to hackers and terrorists. "Terrorists trying to hack or disrupt > U.S. computer networks might find it easier if the federal government > attempts to switch to 'open source' as some groups propose," ADTI said > in a statement released ahead of the report. > > Open-source software is freely available for distribution and > modification, as long as the modified software is itself available under > open-source terms. The Linux operating system is the best-known example > of open source, having become popular in the Web server market because > of its stability and low cost. > > Many researchers have also suggested that since a large community > contributes to and > scrutinizes open-source code, security holes are less likely to occur > than in proprietary software, and can be caught and fixed more quickly. > > The ADTI white paper, to be released next week, will take the opposite > line, outlining > "how open source might facilitate efforts to disrupt or sabotage > electronic commerce, air traffic control or even sensitive surveillance > systems," the institute said. > "Computer systems are the backbone to U.S. national security," said ADTI > Chairman Gregory Fossedal. "Before the Pentagon and other federal > agencies make uninformed decisions to alter the very foundation of > computer security, they should study the potential consequences > carefully." > > Interesting, > drjung > >
good grief...thats got to be the biggest butt-load of FUD I've read yet! did Redmond, Washington write that? Mark
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