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Full Discussion: is open source more secure ?
Special Forums Cybersecurity is open source more secure ? Post 302331526 by Neo on Monday 6th of July 2009 12:38:25 PM
Old 07-06-2009
I would also like to add that, at least for me personally and speaking in sweeping generalities which I don't like to do; I feel less secure with "closed code" than "open code".

For me, I can easily trust what I can see. I can search open code more easily (and look for problems) than I can search a binary or encrypted code like encrypted PHP (which I cannot search at all).

Recently, I refused to install encrypted PHP on a web site for that exact reason. I do not trust code I cannot see and see no reason to install encrypted PHP code when I can find open alternatives.

As I mentioned before, I don't normally like to respond to generalizations without context, so I am simply providing my personal opinion, and that is that I (my personal opinion) feel more secure when I can examine the code, grep it, search it, add debug statements, etc.
 

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ENIGMA(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						 ENIGMA(1)

NAME
enigma, crypt -- very simple file encryption SYNOPSIS
enigma [-s] [-k] [password] crypt [-s] [-k] [password] DESCRIPTION
The enigma utility, also known as crypt is a very simple encryption program, working on a ``secret-key'' basis. It operates as a filter, i.e., it encrypts or decrypts a stream of data from standard input, and writes the result to standard output. Since its operation is fully symmetrical, feeding the encrypted data stream again through the engine (using the same secret key) will decrypt it. There are several ways to provide the secret key to the program. By default, the program prompts the user on the controlling terminal for the key, using getpass(3). This is the only safe way of providing it. Alternatively, the key can be provided as the sole command-line argument password when starting the program. Obviously, this way the key can easily be spotted by other users running ps(1). As yet another alternative, enigma can be given the option -k, and it will take the key from the environment variable CrYpTkEy. While this at a first glance seems to be more secure than the previous option, it actually is not since environment variables can also be examined with ps(1). Thus this option is mainly provided for compatibility with other implementations of enigma. When specifying the option -s, enigma modifies the encryption engine in a way that is supposed to make it a little more secure, but incompat- ible with other implementations. Warning The cryptographic value of enigma is rather small. This program is only provided here for compatibility with other operating systems that also provide an implementation (usually called crypt(1) there). For real encryption, refer to bdes(1), openssl(1), pgp(1) (ports/security/pgp), or gpg(1) (ports/security/gnupg). However, restrictions for exporting, importing or using such tools might exist in some countries, so those stronger programs are not being shipped as part of the operating system by default. ENVIRONMENT
CrYpTkEy used to obtain the secret key when option -k has been given EXAMPLES
man enigma | enigma > encrypted Enter key: (XXX -- key not echoed) This will create an encrypted form of this man page, and store it in the file encrypted. enigma XXX < encrypted This displays the previously created file on the terminal. SEE ALSO
bdes(1), gpg(1), openssl(1), pgp(1), ps(1), getpass(3) HISTORY
Implementations of crypt are very common among UNIX operating systems. This implementation has been taken from the Cryptbreakers Workbench which is in the public domain. BSD
May 14, 2004 BSD
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