| Publisher | IBM | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Format | HTML | Date added | 01 Oct 2000 |
| Topics | Software Engineering, Security Management | ||
| Downloads | 8 | ||
There are a lot of good reasons for keeping secrets. Every company has intellectual property to protect, often including algorithms built right into the software being sold to customers. Companies also have cryptographic keys that must remain private in order to retain their utility. Despite popular trends toward openness, including the open source movement, most software companies still embrace secrecy when it comes to their computer programs. The problem is, secrecy is often used as a crutch and may not be effective. Probably the most popular way to keep secrets in code is to hide away the source and release only an executable version in machine code. Not releasing source code certainly can help keep hackers from stealing your secrets. However, doing so is not nearly as effective as many people believe. There are plenty of problems with this technique (often labeled "security by obscurity"), but the main problem stems from a false belief that code compiled into binary will remain secret just because the source is not available. This is wrong. Simply put, if your code runs, determined people can eventually find out exactly what it is doing.
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