Sponsored Content
Full Discussion: is open source more secure ?
Special Forums Cybersecurity is open source more secure ? Post 302331191 by Neo on Saturday 4th of July 2009 01:39:39 PM
Old 07-04-2009
I agree with the replies.

It is too simple to make a sweeping generalization "open source is more secure" or "open source is less secure".

So, anyone who believes either statement, yes or no, is both right and wrong, because the statement is too general and therefore meaningless

Even the term "security" has no real meaning. In discussing IT security you must discuss risk, and to discuss risk you must think in terms of vulnerability, threat and impact.

For example, an open source system turned on and sitting in your closet without a connection to the Internet may be more secure that the most expensive closed source system on the Internet Smilie

In other words, there are security experts born every minute, it seems, and very few understand what they are actually taking about. If you understood security and risk management, you could not answer such a simple question as "is open source more or less secure?" because this question has no context and just lends to endless, meaningless debates by people who do not understand the nature of IT security and risk management.
 

6 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. Post Here to Contact Site Administrators and Moderators

open source for the forum

This is a slick looking forum. Any chance on making the code for the forum open source? (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: ecupirate1998
1 Replies

2. IP Networking

Open Source NMS

Hello there, I wanted to know the members' opinion about the best open source network management software which uses a web browser to show its interface and results. I am interested in the software for both windows and Linux OSs. Thanks. (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: Jawwad
4 Replies

3. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

open source antivirus

Hello What is the best open source anti virus? Thanks (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: mohammadmahdi
4 Replies

4. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

what is the best open source antispam?

Hello what is the best open source antispam? Thanks http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: mohammadmahdi
1 Replies

5. Shell Programming and Scripting

Open Source

Hi Friends I'm new to this UNIX - I'm working on the porting project from Solaris To Linux i just want to map some commands from solaris to Linux so can any one please tell me how to get the source code of the commands like "ls", "cu", "du" Regards sabee (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: sabee.prakash
1 Replies

6. Fedora

Is UNIX an open source OS ?

Hi everyone, I know the following questions are noobish questions but I am asking them because I am confused about the basics of history behind UNIX and LINUX. Ok onto business, my questions are-: Was/Is UNIX ever an open source operating system ? If UNIX was... (21 Replies)
Discussion started by: sreyan32
21 Replies
PAM_SELINUX(8)							 Linux-PAM Manual						    PAM_SELINUX(8)

NAME
pam_selinux - PAM module to set the default security context SYNOPSIS
pam_selinux.so [close] [debug] [open] [nottys] [verbose] [select_context] [env_params] [use_current_range] DESCRIPTION
In a nutshell, pam_selinux sets up the default security context for the next execed shell. When an application opens a session using pam_selinux, the shell that gets executed will be run in the default security context, or if the user chooses and the pam file allows the selected security context. Also the controlling tty will have it's security context modified to match the users. Adding pam_selinux into a pam file could cause other pam modules to change their behavior if the exec another application. The close and open option help mitigate this problem. close option will only cause the close portion of the pam_selinux to execute, and open will only cause the open portion to run. You can add pam_selinux to the config file twice. Add the pam_selinux close as the executes the open pass through the modules, pam_selinux open_session will happen last. When PAM executes the close pass through the modules pam_selinux close_session will happen first. OPTIONS
close Only execute the close_session portion of the module. debug Turns on debugging via syslog(3). open Only execute the open_session portion of the module. nottys Do not try to setup the ttys security context. verbose attempt to inform the user when security context is set. select_context Attempt to ask the user for a custom security context role. If MLS is on ask also for sensitivity level. env_params Attempt to obtain a custom security context role from PAM environment. If MLS is on obtain also sensitivity level. This option and the select_context option are mutually exclusive. The respective PAM environment variables are SELINUX_ROLE_REQUESTED, SELINUX_LEVEL_REQUESTED, and SELINUX_USE_CURRENT_RANGE. The first two variables are self describing and the last one if set to 1 makes the PAM module behave as if the use_current_range was specified on the command line of the module. use_current_range Use the sensitivity level of the current process for the user context instead of the default level. Also suppresses asking of the sensitivity level from the user or obtaining it from PAM environment. MODULE TYPES PROVIDED
Only the session module type is provided. RETURN VALUES
PAM_AUTH_ERR Unable to get or set a valid context. PAM_SUCCESS The security context was set successfully. PAM_USER_UNKNOWN The user is not known to the system. EXAMPLES
auth required pam_unix.so session required pam_permit.so session optional pam_selinux.so SEE ALSO
pam.conf(5), pam.d(5), pam(7) AUTHOR
pam_selinux was written by Dan Walsh <dwalsh@redhat.com>. Linux-PAM Manual 08/31/2010 PAM_SELINUX(8)
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:56 AM.
Unix & Linux Forums Content Copyright 1993-2022. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy