I, like many of you, use many open source tools on my computer every single day. In fact, I am using one right now as I type this post: Firefox. I was thinking this morning about the open source movement and the security issues that come with it.
Although there is some amazing open source software out there, is it not true that if the source code is available to a product, then it would make it easier for a hacker to exploit any security vulnerabilities? In other words: If I am a hacker, and I have the source code of a product available to me, it would make it easier to find the holes, slip ups, and mistakes of the programmers in order to exploit them for my own purposes....correct?
Given that, how is that the open source community has continued to thrive so much? Is it that hackers see more opportunity in commercial software (i.e. a "stick-it-to-the-man" attitude)? Is it the fact that the average user uses very little open source software compared to someone like a computer programmer? I just wanted to bring out some discussion on this.
