Supporters of open-source software boasted yesterday that they're surpassing Microsoft in the ability to block and counterattack hackers - thanks to a growing army of thousands of anti-hack volunteers.

On the first day of the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in Boston, devotees of the open-source Linux - considered a growing challenge to Microsoft's operating system and other proprietary applications - held two conferences in which aspiring Linux users were tutored on how to detect and battle hackers using open-source products.

``I believe in the open-source solution,'' said Stephan Scholz, senior software engineer at Astaro Corp., which hosted a conference focusing on so-called ``Snort,'' a hacker-detector engine used with Linux.

Scholz's comments were echoed at another session, entitled ``Hands on Hacking: Attacks and Counter Measures.''

``I'm much more attracted to (open-source) security,'' said David Allen, president of CR Consulting, which hosted the conference at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center.

The reasons: There are thousands of programmers across the world helping to develop Linux and other open-source applications - and they can quickly jump to the rescue of users with problems associated with hackers, Scholz and Allen said.

The problem with Microsoft's Windows and other proprietary programs is that some of their codes are secret, and it's sometimes illegal to make modifications to improve their systems, Scholz and Allen said.

But Microsoft, which didn't have representatives at yesterday's LinuxWorld expo at the Hynes, fired back that studies show Microsoft's products are actually more secure than open-source applications and that Microsoft delivers anti-hack solutions faster than Linux distributors.


Source : BostonHerald