A Security Conundrum: Open Source vs Proprietary Code

It’s a fair question.

After all, if you haven’t yet had your data stolen or compromised one way or another, consider yourself lucky. But odds are, that luck won’t last forever. 

So as I spoke with various family members and proceeded to tell them about open source, I wasn’t surprised to be asked the question:

If everyone has access to the code, then how does that make our data safe? 

Despite their wildly diverging backgrounds, they all had one thing in common: each and everyone (myself included) has had their personal data stolen. 

Sure, they were certainly careless at times (“but the email said to click on that link!”), but more often than not, the various organizations they had entrusted to be guardians of their data – think credit card companies, stores, hospitals, and so on – were the ones ultimately hacked. 

So why would organizations want to adopt open source technology into their data infrastructure? Shouldn’t proprietary software, with its code closely guarded, be the more secure option?  

This seems extremely counterintuitive, especially for organizations that are struggling to boost their security teams. 

But as someone without a developer background myself, I understood their bewilderment. 

Yes, using open source offers numerous and unique security benefits that their proprietary code cousins simply cannot offer.  

Here are the top 5 reasons I told them:

1) The community has your back – and acts with agility 

The beauty is in the name: open source code is entirely out in the open for all to see. That means organizations are free to scrutinize the code from top to bottom for security and reliability, giving them the advantage of knowing exactly what they’re adopting into their data infrastructure. 

While having the ability to closely scrutinize the code gives you peace of mind of knowing exactly what you’re adopting, the real security comes with the massive and robust global community backing that open source project. 

If there is a security flaw, you can guarantee that the community is already developing a fix, freely sharing information and insights along the way to make sure the issue is quickly resolved with minimal downtime.  

2) Complete transparency (and ready to fork) 

With so many contributors working on an open source project, it’s practically impossible for security issues to remain hidden from the general public. Can the same be said about proprietary software?  

Probably not.  

One of the best features of open source is that the community will always provide you with the utmost transparency, and they’re fiercely committed to keeping it that way. If there is a fundamental change to the code – say, if the license changes from pure open source to something more restrictive (and giving you and the wider community less control over what you can do with it) – you can bet your last dollar that there will be a fork happening. 

The open source community thrives on transparency and stands ready to fight back whenever any actor tries to take that away.

3) Stringent – and fully independent – security audits mean you’re staying compliant 

SOC 2. ISO. PCI DSS.  

And then there’s GDPR, HIPAA and CCPA. 

We get it: there are lots of different regulations to keep on top of – some voluntary, others government-mandated – and those regulations are only going to increase in overall number and complexity in remaining compliant.  

By adopting open source, you always have the ability to undergo rigorous and fully independent auditing by third parties to meet the unique security standards your organization requires.  

With this complete level of control over your data environment, you can ensure compliance with the regulations you must follow and create the security protocols that best suit your organization.

Compared to proprietary software, this isn’t necessarily the case. Without access to the source code, it can be difficult to conduct the required thorough security audits to find any vulnerabilities or verify the absence of hidden malware. Instead, you’re reliant on the vendor for security upgrades – and get a lack of transparency in the process. 

4) Store your data with a security leader 

Where can you store your data? Wherever you want to! That’s open source for you.  

On-prem, single-, multi- or hybrid-cloud, public or private. Whatever is best for your organization, the choice is yours – and that includes using the most secure storage on the planet. 

With proprietary code, there is a good chance that you’ll be forced to use the storage required by that particular vendor. Whether it’s because the software only works within specific storage environments, or maybe it’s because the vendor has struck a specific deal with a particular storage provider.  

Either way, your options for where you store your data are severely limited with proprietary code. 

5) Don’t have a security expert on your team? Don’t worry 

Talk to any manager or recruiter and they’ll tell you the same thing: there is a massive skills shortage for cyber security experts, making it almost impossible to recruit experts to your own team. The reasons for the shortage are plentiful, but one thing is near-certain: whether it’s a chronic lack of budget or a lack of candidates, it will be a huge challenge to hire the experts you want on your team. 

But don’t let that get you down.  

With so many contributors to open source, security experts abound. Collaborating freely and sharing expertise is what makes the open source community thrive. 

And with a managed service, you get an entire team of security experts backing your data infrastructure 24×7. There’s no need to hire your own team – and keep up with the ever-evolving threat landscape – when a global community of dedicated open source security experts are readily available. 

Final Thoughts: Security is stronger in the open 

At first glance, it does seem counterintuitive that open source, with its code out in the open for all to see, provides a superior security environment than proprietary software. 

But by keeping everything in the open, you get a robust and dedicated community that acts as the guardians for their one and only stakeholder: the community. 

There’s no getting around it: threats are increasing, and devious actors will always come up with new ways to get their hands on your data. That’s not going away anytime soon (and let’s be realistic: it’s never going away, either). 

Are you new to open source or curious to see our cutting-edge security team? Let’s have a chat and talk about your particular data environment – and see for yourself the incredible power of open source. 

Store, stream, search, analyze, orchestrate.  

Whatever you need to do with your data, the Instaclustr platform is ready to unleash the power of your data and fully backed with industry-leading security standards. Get started today and spin up your first cluster for free.