Re: Debunking the "Linux can't have viruses" myth ...

From: Travis Casey (efindel_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 11/24/04 

Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 00:00:11 GMT

Jon Gomez wrote:

>> (And, hey, some days you just can't trust anybody:  Try googling for
>> "Reflections on Trusting Trust" to read about Ken Thompson's mindblowing
>> exploit that he pulled over on, well, everyone.)
>
> Read it, liked it.  One of my friends at college, who thinks Open Source
> is unpractical for businesses, pulled this kind of an argument in a vague
> way on me.

It should be noted, though, that there's no reason why a similar thing
couldn't be done with a closed-source compiler and program. Further, with
open source, you always have the option of re-building the tools with a
different compiler.

There have been -- and likely still are -- backdoors aplenty in
closed-source code. Open source may be an imperfect defense against
security problems, but it is still a defense. 

-- 
ZZzz   |\      _,,,---,,_     Travis S. Casey  <efindel@earthlink.net>
       /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   No one agrees with me.  Not even me.
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