Sunday, July 8, 2012

How safe are your blueprints?

James Bond and Knight rider might have had to resort to using tiny cameras to take photos of secret blueprints, but it seems today's data thieves don't need to go to such lengths. There are reports of a virus spreading through installations of AutoCAD that is sending sensitive data to email addresses in China.

Free software has fewer viruses, partly because everyone can see the code (warts and all) so everyone can spot potential security breaches. Sadly if you keep your code hidden from your users, you're really just helping writers of viruses do their work.

If you're worried about the security of your CAD data, use something open source like Draftsight.

2 comments:

  1. While Draftsight is a nice product and is free of cost, it is not libre. i.e. it is afaik closed source.
    So in this particular case, your otherwise valid argument doesn't apply.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, you are quite right. Gratis but not libre. Wish it were though.

    ReplyDelete