Rather than seeing open source as a threat, Ducklin says it’s a reality that’s here to stay, and it wouldn’t make sense to pretend it didn’t exist.
"It would be a little petulant to say that open source hasn't delivered anything considering how useful systems such as Linux and Freebsd are," he said.
Several open source developers have put together solutions that compliment commercial anti-virus offerings, including the samba-vscan plug-in for the popular Samba file sharing software, which emulates a Windows file server.
Far from trying to dissuade his customers from giving the technology a go, Ducklin says the complementary nature of the products means he’s often keen for them to implement it.
"Those who've spoken to us about this sort of thing are already looking at it," he said. "It's certainly worth investigating".
According to Ducklin, the open source movement doesn’t represent a threat to the business of major AV companies because of the need for 24/7 operations and the high cost of running support. The ideas that are being implemented wouldn’t necessarily be thought of by major companies because they’re developing their tools from a different perspective. He would, however, welcome an open source anti-virus engine.
"AV companies might say they'll never get it right, [but] personally I'd welcome it. It couldn't do any harm to see commercial companies kept on their toes," he said.
Security consultant with Acumen Alliance, Jason McClure, has welcomed Ducklin’s comments.
"The open source community has a huge knowledge base that could be tapped into," he said. "I don't think we should ignore the open source community... there are some very smart people in it".
McClure points out that Sun and Microsoft have both recognised Linux as a serious contender, and says that commercial interests can actually pose a threat to the open source world through the acquisition of people and ideas. Whilst not describing the threat as serios, he does say it could "potentially rob the inputs to the open source community".
But at the end of the day, McClure believes open source and commercial interests can complement each other.
"I think they can co-exist," he said.
