Source Security and the Dark Side

Does the open source software development process lead to more secure software? In this article we attempt to explore arguments for and against this premise. First, we need to understand what open source software is and how it differs from closed source software. Open source allows users access to the source code, or internals, of the software. A popular example of open source software is the Linux operating system. When we download Linux, we also get the source that we can inspect or modify to suit our needs. In contrast, closed source software vendors deliver executable code to the users and do not provide the associated source code. Executable code is in binary format, which machines like, but humans find difficult to understand. A prominent example of closed source software is the Microsoft Windows operating system. In this article, we look at both sides of the open source versus closed source debate to see if one side stands out as a more secure software development technique.