Red Hat’s David Egts Offers Advice on Open Source Adoption in Gov’t

Federal technology leaders who want to use open source code for government applications need a secure, standard platform with which to establish it, David Egts of Red Hat wrote in a GCN guest post published Thursday.

Egts, chief technologist at Red Hat’s public sector organization, said open software when deployed with continuous monitoring measures and systems management tools in place, encourages collaboration and innovation.

He suggested chief information security officers should study the vulnerabilities of all vendor databases and the tools used to troubleshoot or minimize the risk.

A choice of software with FIPS 140 or other government accreditation could also help mitigate security issues in any system, Egts added.

“Open source software can be just as secure as proprietary software, with far greater benefits,” he said.

“The reduced cost and collaborative nature of the software allows for faster and more substantial innovation, resulting in improved efficiency agency-wide.”