This paper addresses some of the benefits and drawbacks for security of open access to source code. After a discussion of alternative models for open access to source code, the paper reviews the positive and negative implications of each for system security. The paper concludes that source code review can have real benefits for security, but that those benefits are not realized automatically, and that some source code access models introduce significant drawbacks.
['Steven B. Lipner']
Security and source code access: issues and realities