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Open source — Government Service Design Manual

45 points by pythonist 14y ago

mmahemoff 14y ago
Even the manual is open-source https://github.com/alphagov/government-service-design-manual https://github.com/alphagov/government-service-design-manual. I suggested a comment on Saturday afternoon by Twitter, it was passed on via an @ mention, and I was told it would be updated Monday. This is government IT, but not as we know it.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  How long until the entire .gov IT infrastructure gets owned because some civil servant decided to accept a pull request with an obvious backdoor?
  - LeeHunter 14y ago
    Could you describe any plausible scenario in which one pull request could compromise the entire .gov IT infrastructure?
    - jiggy2011 14y ago
      wow, where to begin?
      - LeeHunter 14y ago
        Anywhere. Just one.
        jiggy2011 14y ago
        exec()
        LeeHunter 14y ago
        That's just code, not a scenario. Government IT systems are currently subject to oversight, testing, comprehensive threat risk assessments etc. Those controls don't disappear just because the software is open source. Right now it's not possible to just deploy new code, open source or not, into a production environment on a critical piece of infrastructure without review. If anything, the open source code should be significantly more secure, because you have added an additional layer of public review, testing and comment.
        jiggy2011 14y ago
        Let's hope you are right.. :) The UK gov does not have the best record with IT projects.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
  - benwerd 14y ago
    If it's open source, the code will be visible and noticed. In a closed source environment, you could still have the exploit, but it'd be behind closed doors.
    - jiggy2011 14y ago
      That is assuming the code is well scrutinized and how they manage contributions.
asselinpaul 14y ago
Wow, makes me proud to live in England. This is the way forward. Employees in most cases dont care whether they are given Windows or Linux as an OS.
ollybee 14y ago
It's been mentioned here before but worth pointing out again. The UK government has an official github account: https://github.com/alphagov https://github.com/alphagov

45 points by pythonist 14y ago

Even the manual is open-source https://github.com/alphagov/government-service-design-manual https://github.com/alphagov/government-service-design-manual. I suggested a comment on Saturday afternoon by Twitter, it was passed on via an @ mention, and I was told it would be updated Monday. This is government IT, but not as we know it.

jiggy2011 14y ago
How long until the entire .gov IT infrastructure gets owned because some civil servant decided to accept a pull request with an obvious backdoor?
- LeeHunter 14y ago
  Could you describe any plausible scenario in which one pull request could compromise the entire .gov IT infrastructure?
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    wow, where to begin?
    - LeeHunter 14y ago
      Anywhere. Just one.
      - jiggy2011 14y ago
        exec()
        LeeHunter 14y ago
        That's just code, not a scenario. Government IT systems are currently subject to oversight, testing, comprehensive threat risk assessments etc. Those controls don't disappear just because the software is open source. Right now it's not possible to just deploy new code, open source or not, into a production environment on a critical piece of infrastructure without review. If anything, the open source code should be significantly more secure, because you have added an additional layer of public review, testing and comment.
        jiggy2011 14y ago
        Let's hope you are right.. :) The UK gov does not have the best record with IT projects.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- benwerd 14y ago
  If it's open source, the code will be visible and noticed. In a closed source environment, you could still have the exploit, but it'd be behind closed doors.
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    That is assuming the code is well scrutinized and how they manage contributions.

asselinpaul 14y ago

Wow, makes me proud to live in England. This is the way forward. Employees in most cases dont care whether they are given Windows or Linux as an OS.

ollybee 14y ago

It's been mentioned here before but worth pointing out again. The UK government has an official github account: https://github.com/alphagov https://github.com/alphagov