content: I'll take a shot at answering. (Keep in my I contribute to exactly 0 open source projects and only have a very small amount of experience with developing them) The very nature of open source is a double edged sword. Yes, any person who wishes to circumvent open source software's security measures can easily read the code and search for places where there are security holes. On the other hand, since the software is open source, anybody with an interest in keeping the software free of security issues can check the code for issues. If they find them they can then fix the issue, and submit the patch. Depending on the specific community around the project this may happen faster and better than closed source software because less business bureaucracy, etc... (However I'm aware that some open source projects are rife with bureaucracy as well) The answer comes to a resounding, eh.. kinda.