WASHINGTON, D.C. - Security is becoming one of the main drivers behind the adoption of open-source software in the enterprise and government, say security experts and CIOs gathered here for Red Hat Inc.'s Open Source Security Summit.

Much of the early enthusiasm for Linux and other open-source operating systems was sparked by the software's low cost and adaptability. But, with a growing emphasis on security in the overall IT marketplace, many customers are looking at open source as a more secure alternative to proprietary software.

"A lot of our customers say that security is at the top of their list in terms of reasons they're going to open source," said Paul Cormier, executive vice president of engineering at Red Hat, based in Raleigh, N.C. "The reality is that there's two different development processes and the open-source paradigm is more democratic. There are all of these eyeballs on [the software] who have no agenda other than doing the right thing. The closed community relies on a small group of developers, and most of their vulnerabilities are found by the bad guys."

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