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Nations lean toward Linux OS for security
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- For reasons of national security and national pride,
government officials in countries like China, France and Germany are
increasingly adopting the free, open-source computer operating system
known as Linux.
In some cases they are replacing software produced by the Microsoft
Corp., which users say is more prone to viruses and hackers.
"A lot of countries feel uncomfortable having the fate of their computer
infrastructure in the hands of a large American software company," said
Eric Raymond of the Open Source Initiative, an advocacy group.
In China, the government is prodding its ministries toward homegrown
versions of Linux, which unlike Microsoft's operating system doesn't
keep secret its source code.
The Chinese information and science ministries are investing in a
version called Red Flag Linux "to pry the computer industry from the
grip of operating systems giants like Microsoft," the official People's
Daily newspaper reported last spring.
Security experts tend to agree that computers are less prone to hacking
and viruses when running open-source software like Linux or the Web
server Apache. When vulnerabilities are found, programmers can fix them
by tinkering with the code and publishing the results.
In France, the ministries of culture, defense and education have
switched to Linux for reasons of security and uniformity, dropping
programs from Microsoft, Sun and Lotus, a Public Works Ministry
spokesman said.
Germany's minister for economy and technology, Margareta Wolf, has urged
use of Linux in "security relevant" computer servers and says the
government, currently overwhelmingly dependent on Microsoft, is looking
into ways to convert other ministries.
Another rallying point for Europeans is the fact that Linus Torvalds,
the programmer known as the father of Linux, is a native of Finland.
In China, as well, software is a matter of national pride.
The Chinese are keen to use their enormous market potential to boost
Chinese products rather than foreign ones, said Li Gong, Sun
Microsystems' chief representative in China.
There are also unproven fears of "back doors" in proprietary operating
systems like Microsoft's Windows. Some governments fear they could be
spied on by U.S. intelligence through a built-in secret channel.
Despite Microsoft's vigorous denials of their existence, the fear of
back doors is particularly acute in China, where the government worries
that the U.S. military could tap into and shut down its military command
networks.
In March, a report in the respected German news magazine Der Spiegel
claimed that country's defense ministry had banned Microsoft products
because of an alleged back door. The ministry later denied the claim.
Microsoft's director of security assurance Steve Lipner calls the back
door references a persistent, baseless rumor.
The criticisms over security are tougher to dismiss.
Microsoft Web server software powers about 30 percent of the world's Web
sites and 62 percent of the sites that have been hacked, according to
data collected by two Internet sites, Netcraft's Web Server Survey and
the Alldas Defacement Archive.
Microsoft is also the prime target of virus writers. But that fact owes
more to Microsoft's dominance in PC software than any particular
vulnerabilities, said security consultant Chris Wysopal of @stake Inc.
Microsoft's Lipner said the company is now releasing lockdown tools to
deal with the problem and is no longer leaving entry port settings open
by default on server software.
Even in the United States, where Microsoft dominates government
computers, agencies such as the Department of Defense and the National
Security Agency are experimenting with Linux.
IBM Corp. reports increasing sales of Linux systems to the federal
government, along with a recent sale to the Chinese postal service.
The intelligence agency, charged with eavesdropping and code-breaking,
has even developed its own version, called Security-Enhanced Linux,
available for free on its Web site.
Frustrated by the lack of success and concerned about the protection of
the country's computer infrastructure, the agency decided to create its
own, said Tom Haigh, chief technical officer of San Jose, Calif.-based
Secure Computing Corp.
"NSA feels it has a responsibility in that area," Haigh said. "They
understand better than anybody in the world the deficiencies of
operating systems."
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