4 ms·

Yeah, North Korea, Iran, and Afghanistan also have all of the source code of Linux. What is your point?

by BrentRitterbeck 17y ago

jbooth 17y ago
Linux security assumes source code visibility, Windows doesn't?
- BrentRitterbeck 17y ago
  Yeah, so you give it to a government who is reviewing it for security problems. More than likely the NSA and CIA also have the source code for Windows.
  - est 17y ago
    on the other hand iDefence itself has a conspiratable spooky background of CIA/DoD http://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/app8q/_/c0issy7 http://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/app8q/_/c0issy7 The more you poke into it the more it looks like a full scale war
    - ig1 17y ago
      It's not unusual among security firms, Kaspersky was founded by a Russian government cryptologist, Check Point was founded by a Unit 8200 alumni, etc. People with computer security talent founding security companies shouldn't be surprising, especially here of all places !
- joe_the_user 17y ago
  Yes, Windows' closed-source nature has allowed MS to rely on security-though-obscurity. Now that one of the entities MS has taken behind it's golden screen has turned out to be a black hat, MS' approach is looking foolish.
  - gcb 17y ago
    now?
  - awa 17y ago
    Microsoft does gives out source code for some of its software (including parts of windows) to various universities for research purposes. Ofcourse, there are NDAs involved but that shows they aren't shy to share the code in certain. situations.
est 17y ago
Linux is very different issue IMO. 1. Customized compilation result different address offsets thus an exploit is not very generic portable. 2. Everyone can do a static vulnerability scan for Linux source code, so if there is a hole it's more likely to be well known in the industry Recently series of events with google.cn suggests that this is just a test ground for industrialized 0day farming for closed source software as a strategic weapon.
tvon 17y ago
All the pitfalls of open source with none of the benefits.

Yeah, North Korea, Iran, and Afghanistan also have all of the source code of Linux. What is your point?

jbooth 17y ago

Linux security assumes source code visibility, Windows doesn't?

BrentRitterbeck 17y ago
Yeah, so you give it to a government who is reviewing it for security problems. More than likely the NSA and CIA also have the source code for Windows.
- est 17y ago
  on the other hand iDefence itself has a conspiratable spooky background of CIA/DoD http://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/app8q/_/c0issy7 http://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/app8q/_/c0issy7 The more you poke into it the more it looks like a full scale war
  - ig1 17y ago
    It's not unusual among security firms, Kaspersky was founded by a Russian government cryptologist, Check Point was founded by a Unit 8200 alumni, etc. People with computer security talent founding security companies shouldn't be surprising, especially here of all places !
joe_the_user 17y ago
Yes, Windows' closed-source nature has allowed MS to rely on security-though-obscurity. Now that one of the entities MS has taken behind it's golden screen has turned out to be a black hat, MS' approach is looking foolish.
- gcb 17y ago
  now?
- awa 17y ago
  Microsoft does gives out source code for some of its software (including parts of windows) to various universities for research purposes. Ofcourse, there are NDAs involved but that shows they aren't shy to share the code in certain. situations.

est 17y ago

Linux is very different issue IMO. 1. Customized compilation result different address offsets thus an exploit is not very generic portable. 2. Everyone can do a static vulnerability scan for Linux source code, so if there is a hole it's more likely to be well known in the industry Recently series of events with google.cn suggests that this is just a test ground for industrialized 0day farming for closed source software as a strategic weapon.

tvon 17y ago

All the pitfalls of open source with none of the benefits.