[gitmo]

Terrorists trying to hack or disrupt U.S. computer networks might find it easier if the federal government attempts to switch to 'open source' as some groups propose

wow, it might? so it follows that it might not.

after they release the white paper, there might be enough details to discuss. then again, maybe not.

It's intuitively obvious. Open source for a hacker / terrorist is analogous to having the blueprints for Fort Knox, the US attack plan for Iraq, or the schematics on how our missile targeting systems work. Yes, as someone posted above, it can be decompiled and deduced. But that's a pretty tedious and difficult process. You can also deduce our missile targeting systems with adequate access and time.

[discostu]

You also don't the get programmer comments when you decompile/ deduce. Assuming the programmer actually commented his code (sometimes a big assumption) you get that in open source. Having done bug fixes on code by long gone programmers I know how much comments can help, easily a 50% reduction in "figure out how it doesn't work" (remember I was fixing bugs) time.

[danelectro]

It's intuitively obvious. Open source for a hacker / terrorist is analogous to having the blueprints for Fort Knox, the US attack plan for Iraq, or the schematics on how our missile targeting systems work. Yes, as someone posted above, it can be decompiled and deduced. But that's a pretty tedious and difficult process. You can also deduce our missile targeting systems with adequate access and time.

if it was intuitively obvious there would be no need for a report from a think tank, now would there?

[anyone care to wager that gregory fossedal of adti will have an op-ed in the wall street journal in the next two weeks about this?]

[bobwoodard]

It's intuitively obvious. Open source for a hacker / terrorist is analogous to having the blueprints for Fort Knox, the US attack plan for Iraq, or the schematics on how our missile targeting systems work.

Maybe it's 'intuitively obvious', but that doesn't mean it's correct. If you follow the logic of people supporting security through obscurity, how could any secure open source app or os exist? With the source for some apps or oses being in the wild for years or decades, any system using those products should be as wide open as the Grand Canyon. Right?