CNET News: Study: Equal Security in All Software

“Proprietary programs should mathematically be as secure as
those developed under the open-source model, a Cambridge University
researcher argued in a paper presented Thursday at a technical
conference in Toulouse, France.

“In his paper, computer scientist Ross Anderson used an analysis
that equates finding software bugs to testing programs for the mean
time before failure, a measure of quality frequently used by
manufacturers. Under the analysis, Anderson found that his ideal
open-source programs were as secure as the closed-source
programs.

“‘Other things being equal, we expect that open and closed
systems will exhibit similar growth in reliability and in security
assurance,’ Anderson wrote in his paper…”

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