Open Source Software Platform

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated05/01/2022

Github - an open-source software repository service was used to create and share an offensively named app that sexually harassed a women in India.
The app used pictures of the women stolen from their social media handles and invited “users” to bid for them.
GitHub has blocked the user, and the Indian Computer Emergency Response System (Cert-In), has been asked to form a high-level committee.

GitHub is the world’s largest open-source developer community platform where users upload their projects and code for others to view, edit, and tweak.
The platform uses the software Git created in 2005 by Linus Trovalds.

Open-source software (OSS) is distributed with its source code, making it available for use, modification, and distribution with its original rights.
Source code is the part of the software that most computer users don’t ever see.
It’s the code computer programmers manipulate to control how a program or application behaves.
OSS typically includes a licence that allows programmers to modify the software to best fit their needs and control how the software can be distributed.
Examples - Linux, Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Mozilla Firefox, VLC media player, SugarCRM, etc.
Indian Apps- DigiLocker, Aarogya Setu, CoWIN Etc.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a software licensing model.
It allows access to software on a subscription basis using external servers.
As its important feature, SaaS allows each user to access programs via the Internet and ability to customise interface.
The user need not install the software on his/her computer. The rise of SaaS and cloud-based computing go hand in hand.

Closed source software holds the source code safe and encrypted.
User can't copy, modify, or delete parts of the code without some type of consequence.
Operating system of Apple’s iPhones (iOS) is closed source so it cannot be legally modified or reverse engineered
Google’s Android operating system is open-source, and therefore it is possible for smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, etc to modify it for their hardware.

It is an organisation of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, with the objective of securing Indian cyberspace.
It is the nodal agency which deals with cybersecurity threats like hacking and phishing.
It collects, analyses and disseminates information on cyber incidents, and also issues alerts on cybersecurity incidents.