Back home
Went on a camping trip to Kalaloch, WA with some family. That was a blast…anyway, I’m back :P.
Came home to hear about how “Linux is a threat to National Security”. See http://www.designnews.com/article/CA435615.html
Crazy…I’m not sure what this is susposed to mean. He suggests that open source software has the capability of being sabotaged by foreign developers. Huh? Is this kinda like Microsoft having to hand over the source code of Windows to China to examin it for holes? I’m not really sure, but Dan O’Dowd (CEO of Green Hills Software) seems to think. Does anybody remember of SELinux, published by the NSA?
July 28th, 2004 at 5:08 am
Well…I must say I sorta agree with the article. I’m not saying Linux is insecure, but if you have the source code and you know how the internals work, it is probably a bit more risky than something developed for government security.
From SELinux’s website @ NASA:
Is Security-enhanced Linux a Trusted Operating System?
No. The phrase “Trusted Operating System” generally refers to an operating system that provides sufficient support for multilevel security and evidence of correctness to meet a particular set of government requirements.
Is it approved for government use?
Security-enhanced Linux is not part of any currently approved version of Linux and has no special or additional approval for government use over any other version of Linux.
Now Linux could have promise, but I’d like to see it heavily modified before it starts protecting our national interests. That way when bugs are announced in the Linux world, people don’t just say: Hmm, let’s see if the government has applied the patch yet. If not, I can get into the system.
July 28th, 2004 at 5:12 am
Though I certainly wouldn’t want the government to use Windows machines. If you have to choose, definitely use Linux!
July 28th, 2004 at 7:03 am
Right…Maybe BSD would be a better choice. That way they could fork it and make it closed source :S. Not sure if that is a good idea or not, but an idea.
July 29th, 2004 at 5:20 am
Yeah, I would feel safer with a closed source OS. Whether that’s a valid feeling, I don’t know. I doubt we’ll ever find out one way or the other.