Slashdot Mirror
Security of Open vs. Closed Source Software
morhoj writes "Cambridge University researcher Ross Anderson just released a paper concluding that open source and closed source software are equally secure. Can't find a copy of the paper online yet, but I thought this would make for an interesting morning conversation. You may not agree with him, but anyone who's on the BugTraq List can tell you that open source software isn't as bug free as we would all like to think." I found Anderson's paper, so read it for yourself. There are some other interesting papers being presented at the conference as well.
What exactly is slashbotting?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Admin or not: security can only be measured _now_. Not tomorrow. Not 5 minutes from now. In 3 seconds your box could be compromised from an unseen source.
That is the only thing admins can do: look after their systems. The most important knowledge an admin has is the knowledge of how to detect a security breach and how to cut the system off from the rest of the world _immediately_. After that he must check the system all over, because any number of things could be different and it should not be thought of as the same system.
Dijkstra Considered Dead