Self Serving Statment, or just more FUD?
Dan O’Dowd - CEO of Green Hills Software (makers of embedded operating systems) has this to say about Linux:
Now that foreign intelligence services and terrorists know that we plan to trust Linux to run some of our most advanced defense systems, we must expect them to deploy spies to infiltrate Linux. The risk is particularly acute since many Linux contributors are based in countries from which the U.S. would never purchase commercial defense software. Some Linux providers even outsource their development to China and Russia.
As usual, when peddling FUD, one tends to not let reality intrude. There are documented cases of closed-source software having back-doors intentionally built into them for malicious purposes, so non-open development methods are no guarantee whatsoever. And with the outsourcing craze in full swing, doesn’t he think that commercial software vendors are vulnerable to the same kinds of intrusions?
The NSA and DOD have been working on a hardened version of Linux for a while now. This is because they have the source code. Do you honestly believe that Microsoft or SCO is going to let NSA and DOD rummage around in their code? Would they let NSA release it to the public after doing so? I have a bridge to sell you if you do.
Any credibility that Mr. O’Dowd would have had went out the window at the bottom of the news article however, when he asserts that, of course, HIS company’s software is secure. Too bad we can’t test that theory.
Did I mention that I hate FUD?