Something I’ve wondered. One of those “too good to be true, it probably is” type things. With all the FOSS especially for linux, installing package after package because a web search said it would fix your problem, how is it Linux isn’t full of malware and such?
Id like to understand better so I can explain to others who are afraid of FOSS for those reasons. My best response is that since it’s open source, people can see what it’s doing and would right away notice something malicious. I wouldn’t, since I’m not that into code, but others would.
They do try, but many vigilant members of the FOSS community do their best to find out what’s being done and prevent it.
You can read this summary of the attempt to inject a malware payload into a widely used compression tool that is used when remotely accessing servers: https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/2/24119342/xz-utils-linux-backdoor-attempt
It was a close call with potentially dramatic consequences, where a bad actor took 2 years to progressively gain reputation and rights to a key FOSS project, and one performance obsessed engineer to find out what they did and undo everything.
The big difference between FOSS and closed source software is that FOSS gives the possibility to audit the code, whereas binary analysis / retro engineering is much harder.
What’s to stop Closed Source software from the same?
Checks and balances, and money… people won’t buy your product if it’s malware…unless you make them a captive audience (win11, tencent).
That doesn’t stop any of them. Windows users still go, willy nilly, traipsing around the internet downloading and installing random things. There is no money, no checks and balances. I’m sure you’ve read Windows converts complaining, “Linux isn’t ready for the average user because it’s too hard to install programs, they want to be able to download an installer, then click next next next and have the application installed.” They think the security of package management is too much for the average user.
Sure, FOSS could get some bad actors. It would be no different than the closed source community. At least with FOSS, there is still opportunity for people to find and eliminate the bad code. The world runs on Linux and FOSS. The place where you would want to sneak in some bad code the most. You’d have a much bigger impact. And, it does happen on occasion, people notice, and the bad code is removed. Compare that to the much smaller, Windows world, where you need anti-virus checkers and maleware checkers.
It sounds like you have the computing world inverted. You believe Windows and closed source is the most dominant computing paradigm. It’s not.
It’s even easier if it’s closed source.
Nothing? but the very fact that it is open source makes it much easier to detect malware, I guess. But I don’t think that closed source is better in this regard, rather worse, because corporations love spyware.
If it’s open source, then the source code of the malware is also open. Generally, binary blobs aren’t included in open source programs, and when they are with no good explanation, it raises a lot of suspicions.
Closed source is where malware can readily be hidden, which is why there is tons of malware hidden in Windows and Android apps.