The most influential factor for deploying open source technology is better protection against security breaches, according to an IDC survey of open source adoption plans and challenges in Australia, Korea, India, and China.

Security professionals favor open source software about as much as proprietary solutions for IT deployments, a vendor survey suggests

A leading application security firm issues research report alleging that open source software developers are missing the security boat.

Linux and related open-source software has gained an increasingly important role among large local corporations in Brazil, according to a recent study.

Open source software is present in 85% of enterprises and the remainder expect to deploy it in the next year, according to research from Gartner. However, 69% of organizations don't have a formal policy for evaluating open source usage in their organizations, according to the Gartner survey. This opens up potential liabilities for intellectual property violations.

Security company Qualys has released a new open source tool, 'BlindElephant', which can accurately fingerprint web applications down to version level in order to better manage the security issues which now plague such software. According to the company, the need for such a tool is pressing.

The Standish group recently completed an extensive study that examines factors influencing open-source adoption. Based on five years of research and analysis, the report provides intriguing insights into open-source adoption levels and the way that open source is reshaping the software industry.

Having many more eyes watching the code and a community of developers backing up users, open source security applications provide a wide range of options and made-to-order uses. Here's a list of 10 serious open source security applications, gathered via the word-of-mouth of the CSOs who use them.

A little over a year ago, we took a look at 10 Commercial Open Source Security Vendors. As we set out to update that list, two facts jumped out: 1) the number of open source security apps with commercial support has grown substantially and 2) the line between open source and commercial applications continues to blur.