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Indian President Advises Open Source Approach

Posted by simoniker on from the with-arms-wide-open dept.

geo_2677 writes "The Indian President Dr. A Kalam has advised defense scientists to go for open-source software for software security, rather than be stuck with insecure proprietary software. Being a scientist himself, he surely knows what's good for his country." Speaking at the Indian Navy's Weapons and Electronic System Engineering Establishment, Kalam argued: "Open source codes can easily introduce the users to build security algorithms in the system without the dependence of proprietary platforms", though continues: "We should take maximum care to ensure that our solution is unique to protect our own defence security solutions implemented on open platforms." We previously reported on Richard Stallman's meeting with Dr. Kalam earlier this year.

5 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Now if only... by TaintedPastry · · Score: 4, Interesting
    ...now if only we could get Cowboy George to follow suit.

    Unfortunately I doubt this will heavily impact any nations/businesses tech policies outside of India. But at least it's a step in the right direction

  2. Score one for the Good Guys! by MooseByte · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Woohoo!

    What really shocks me is why so many countries are still using MS at all in their gov't infrastructure. I've always wondered about the following scenario. (Note: Tinfoil hat required.)

    MS is closed-source and rife with a constant stream of what are effectively root exploits being stumbled upon. What if some agency wanted to cozy up to MS and carefully craft backdoors and such, inject them into the OS and have them released into the world? Windows is so ubiquitous that your task has now become that much easier.

    Furthermore only the random stumbling of a security researcher/hacker has a chance of discovering it. Probability == low in most cases. In which case "Oops, release patch (add new backdoor)".

    Then there's the less nefarious scenario - an agency just sitting on little-known accidental root exploits and keeping them in their classified root kit.

    Either way it strikes me that linux in particular (and open source in general) would give sovereign nations some peace of mind. Not bulletproof, but having a global community reviewing the source and tracking exploits openly would sure seem to me to be a better way to safeguard my country's secrets than relying on a huge foreign company with a crappy track record for security.

    (You can now remove your tinfoil hats. No, wait, NEVER remove your tinfoil hat...)

    1. Re:Score one for the Good Guys! by MooseByte · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "If you think there isn't "an agency just sitting on little-known accidental root exploits and keeping them in their classified root kit" for most (if not all) of the *nixs out there you are dreaming."

      Definitely, but Open Source *nixs are far less likely to harbor them than any closed source OS, *nix or otherwise. Agreed? If not, let's discuss.

  3. Re:Maybe... by JPriest · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I am sure this has nothing to do with Microsoft, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Sun, Adobe, and Apple being American companies.

    --
    Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
  4. Re:I think.. by CoughDropAddict · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This may surprise you, but some technically minded people can discuss things like that rationally.