Let’s pretend that you’re a fool and believe that security through obscurity works. Because of your foolish belief you sought closed source security software. Since potential adversaries can’t see the source code, they can’t find vulnerabilities in it to attack you with, right? Not so much. Just because software is closed source doesn’t mean nobody is allowed to see the source code. HP recently granted Russia permission to review the source code of one of its security software packages:
Last year, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) allowed a Russian defense agency to analyze the source code of a cybersecurity software used by the Pentagon, Reuters reports. The software, a product called ArcSight, is an important piece of cyber defense for the Army, Air Force and Navy and works by alerting users to suspicious activity — such as a high number of failed login attempts — that might be a sign of an ongoing cyber attack. The review of the software was done by a company called Echelon for Russia’s Federal Service for Technical and Export Control as HPE was seeking to sell the software in the country. While such reviews are common for outside companies looking to market these types of products in Russia, this one could have helped Russian officials find weaknesses in the software that could aid in attacks on US military cyber networks.
I don’t subscribe to the belief that open source software is inherently more secure (however, I do believe open source software offers several advantages over closed source software that are unrelated to security). I think the numerous critical vulnerabilities discovered in OpenSSL put that belief to bed. However, I also don’t believe that closed source software is inherently more secure. Just because a developer doesn’t share its source code with everybody doesn’t mean it doesn’t share its source code with third parties. In the case of HP, one of the third parties granted access to its source code was an adversary of one of its customers.
If you’re purchasing software from a third party, you have no control over who it shares its source code with. So if you believe in security through obscurity, closed source software won’t offer you any advantage, perceived or otherwise.