The Myth of Open Source Security Revisited

The author revisits a debate begun here recently on the nature of security in Open Source projects: do 'lots of eyeballs' ensure secure code?

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Originally published at Internet.com


It is a common misconception amongst users of Open Source software that it is a panacea when it comes to creating secure software. Although this belief is rarely grounded in fact, it has become a cliche that is used axiomatically by Open Source enthusiasts and pundits whenever they discuss security. The purpose of this article is to expose the fallacy of this kind of thinking and instead point to truer means of ensuring the quality of the security of a piece software is high. Blind Faith: With Many Eyeballs, All Bugs Are Shallow In his seminal writing The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Eric Raymond used the statement "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" to describe the belief that given a large enough beta-tester and co-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix obvious to someone. Over time, the meaning of the original quote has been lost and instead replaced with the dogmatic belief that Open Source is the panacea that solves the problems involving security in software development. A Critical Perspective:...

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