Analyzing Open Source Security Against Closed Source Software

One of the great rallying cries from the Open Source community is the assertion that Open Source Software (OSS) is, by its very nature, less likely to contain security vulnerabilities, including back doors, than closed source software. The reality is . . . One of the great rallying cries from the Open Source community is the assertion that Open Source Software (OSS) is, by its very nature, less likely to contain security vulnerabilities, including back doors, than closed source software. The reality is far more complex and nuanced.

Advocates derive their dogmatic faith in the implicit security of Open Source code from the concept of "peer review," a cornerstone of the scientific process in which published papers and theories are scrutinized by experts other than the authors. The more peers that review the work, the less likely it is that it will contains errors, and the more likely it is to become accepted.

The link for this article located at SecurityFocus --    is no longer available.