I’m note a programmer. I Don’t Understand Codes. How do I Know If An Open Source Application is not Stealing My Data Or Passwords? Google play store is scanning apps. It says it blocks spyware. Unfortunately, we know that it was not very successful. So, can we trust open source software? Can’t someone integrate their own virus just because the code is open?

  • Z4rK@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Check activity before trusting open source

    By default, FOSS is no more secure or privacy protected than proprietary software. However, it allows the community to peer review the code. So, a popular and active FOSS project can be trusted to be honest and not do nefarious things to your data or devices.

    Check activity on their code repository - Stars / Followers and Forks says something about popularity, Issues and pull requests tells you about activity (check comments or check recently closed issues and pull requests), as does the code commits itself.

    Edit: Changed wording from secure to trust / honesty. Not all code focus on security; in fact, most code doesn’t.