this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
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With FOSS, what is to stop scammers from hiding malware or worse in their programs? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 day ago by applemao@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.world
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Something I've wondered. One of those "too good to be true, it probably is" type things. With all the FOSS especially for linux, installing package after package because a web search said it would fix your problem, how is it Linux isn't full of malware and such?

Id like to understand better so I can explain to others who are afraid of FOSS for those reasons. My best response is that since it's open source, people can see what it's doing and would right away notice something malicious. I wouldn't, since I'm not that into code, but others would.

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[–] jutty@blendit.bsd.cafe 8 points 1 day ago

Not so much what's preventing, but how hard it is to get away with it.

Whatever closed-source software is doing on your system, there is no way to know to begin with, what it is that it is doing. You can only look at the outer effects it has, but you can't examine it much. So even if a closed system is doing all sorts of things, as long as it's stealthy enough, there would be no consequences at all.

This is the very opposite is what you get with FOSS, not to mention the difference on how software is developed, built, distributed and managed in unix systems compared to proprietary ones.