As a company offering cybersecurity in Miami, we know that open-source solutions offer both perks and drawbacks. On one hand, the open-source nature allows more professionals to dissect coding to find:
- Bugs
- Security holes
- Weaknesses
But there’s also the risk that using open-source software, such as Blender, LibreOffice, Linux, GIMP and others can pose a security risk.
Why?
A few reasons.
1. Outdated Codebases
The OWASP® Foundation, an organization focusing on improving software security, reports that as many as 89% of open-source software (OSS) has code bases that are four or more years out of date.
Old codebases may be inefficient, but without updates to the OSS for years, there is a chance that security holes have been identified and no patches have been deployed to fix them.
2. Lack of Oversight
Private software is designed in a controlled environment. Code is often tested and run in-house to ensure security risks are kept to a minimum and the solution runs properly. OSS may have dozens of people working on code that add one element to the code and never contribute again.
While there are benefits to the open-source nature of software, including more people reviewing code and finding security holes, there’s also the risk that less popular OSS has:
- Lack of oversight
- Developer code that has been accepted and not tested
Decentralized software like this can lack thorough reviews to spot security issues before an update is pushed to businesses.
3. Poor Development Practices
Standardized development practices are uncommon in smaller OSS. Relaxed coding practices can lead to deprecated functions being used, lack of input validation or error handling not being handled properly.
SQL injections still happen, even though this is one of the most common attacks on web applications that is easy to avoid.
Why?
Poor development practices.
4. Name-Confusion Attacks
Downloading OSS from lesser-known developers poses the risk of name-confusion attacks. Attacks like these mask themselves as an official code base, but they simply use a similar name to the official package.
For example, the official site for an OSS package may be OSSexample.com but a malicious party purchases OSSexample.co in hopes of conducting a name-confusion attack.
On top of security issues, there is also the concern that a confusing licensing agreement can open your business up to legal liabilities. For example, you can often use OSS or parts of the code freely, but you need to meet a vague requirement, such as giving specific credit to the development team.
Violating licensing can cause legal trouble for your business and even damage its reputation.
OSS also has dependencies that may have licensing requirements that you must be aware of and follow or risk potential legal consequences.
But this doesn’t mean all OSS is bad. Many OSSs are used across enterprises and offer features and functions that businesses rely on for daily tasks.
If you use open-source tools in your business, our cybersecurity firm in Miami can test your business’s security and give you peace of mind that the tools you use are safe and secure.