I support free and open source software (FOSS) like VLC, Qbittorrent, LibreOffice, Gimp…

But why do people say that it’s as secure or more secure than closed source software?

From what I understand, closed source software don’t disclose their code.

If you want to see the source code of Photoshop, you actually need to work for Adobe. Otherwise, you need to be some kind of freaking retro-engineering expert.

But open source has their code available to the entire world on websites like Github or Gitlab.

Isn’t that actually also helping hackers?

  • liquefy4931@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 days ago

    Also keep in mind that employees of companies that release closed source software are obligated to keep secret any gaping security vulnerabilities. This obligation usually comes with heavy legal ramifications that could be considered “life ruining” for many of us. e.g. Loss of your job plus a lawsuit.

    Often, none of the contributors to open source software are associated with each other and therefore have no obligation to keep discovered vulnerabilities a secret. In fact, I would assume that many contributors also actively use the software and have a personal interest in getting security vulnerabilities fixed.