When do you trust open source? With so many recent attacks using insecure software as a vector--thousands upon thousands of attacks--the reliance on the vigilance of others seems almost foolhardy.
Open source has an answer for the lack of security, in that the code is presumably visible to all. However, few actually read the source code of the applications they rely on; there are simply too many of them, their codebases are too large, and chances are that most people reading the source code couldn't do a proper security analysis anyway.
Doesn't this mean that open source and closed source end up being on an even playing field with respect to security? If nobody reads the source code, open or closed, where's the difference in security between the two licensed codebases?
With the aid of Josh Bressers, lead of Red Hat's Product Security Team, let's look at a process by which one can gain some reassurance concerning open source security, along with a pointed look at one more way in which Red Hat contributes to the entire Linux community.
The basic argument, in simplified straw man form, looks like this:
-
Open source is no more secure than closed source.
-
You don't review every line of open source code; you trust the projects.
-
Since you don't review every line of code, trusting your closed source vendor is the same as trusting an open source project.
This almost makes sense--but according to Josh, this is what actually happens:
You probably haven't reviewed the source code to your web browser (how you're reading this page). Even if you did review the code, you need to trust whomever built the source code. Up to this point, open source is on par with closed source.
If you have a closed source product, you have to trust the vendor. There's zero choice. If they make a claim, you probably can't prove them wrong. Many closed source vendors have been caught doing silly things, but security isn't trivial, and people easily forget the sins of the past.
Open source and closed source diverge when you consider the people who do review your source code. Red Hat has a number of security teams who do actually conduct source code audits. Do they catch everything? Certainly not, but they are essentially an independent third party looking at public source code. Even if you don't like what they find, you can go look and verify security for yourself. You don't have to trust the third party; you can still conduct your own analysis.
There are also other groups doing third-party security verification. That's the amplification power of open source.
All of this is what makes open source more secure. We can't lie, we can't cheat, we can't steal. The emperor is naked and knows it. More than once Red Hat has hit security issues where we wish we could have weaselled out of them, but at the end of the day, open source kept us honest.
We think open source is more secure than closed source. Every time.
Sobre o autor
Navegue por canal
Automação
Últimas novidades em automação de TI para empresas de tecnologia, equipes e ambientes
Inteligência artificial
Descubra as atualizações nas plataformas que proporcionam aos clientes executar suas cargas de trabalho de IA em qualquer ambiente
Nuvem híbrida aberta
Veja como construímos um futuro mais flexível com a nuvem híbrida
Segurança
Veja as últimas novidades sobre como reduzimos riscos em ambientes e tecnologias
Edge computing
Saiba quais são as atualizações nas plataformas que simplificam as operações na borda
Infraestrutura
Saiba o que há de mais recente na plataforma Linux empresarial líder mundial
Aplicações
Conheça nossas soluções desenvolvidas para ajudar você a superar os desafios mais complexos de aplicações
Programas originais
Veja as histórias divertidas de criadores e líderes em tecnologia empresarial
Produtos
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux
- Red Hat OpenShift
- Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
- Red Hat Cloud Services
- Veja todos os produtos
Ferramentas
- Treinamento e certificação
- Minha conta
- Suporte ao cliente
- Recursos para desenvolvedores
- Encontre um parceiro
- Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog
- Calculadora de valor Red Hat
- Documentação
Experimente, compre, venda
Comunicação
- Contate o setor de vendas
- Fale com o Atendimento ao Cliente
- Contate o setor de treinamento
- Redes sociais
Sobre a Red Hat
A Red Hat é a líder mundial em soluções empresariais open source como Linux, nuvem, containers e Kubernetes. Fornecemos soluções robustas que facilitam o trabalho em diversas plataformas e ambientes, do datacenter principal até a borda da rede.
Selecione um idioma
Red Hat legal and privacy links
- Sobre a Red Hat
- Oportunidades de emprego
- Eventos
- Escritórios
- Fale com a Red Hat
- Blog da Red Hat
- Diversidade, equidade e inclusão
- Cool Stuff Store
- Red Hat Summit