IBM opens product source code for 'certain countries'

MUMBAI, INDIA: Barely a month after Microsoft, International Business Machines (IBM) on Friday has confirmed that it allows certain countries to review, albeit under strict control, portions of product source code to detect any security flaws in its software.

According to reports in various media, China is one of the countries which have been allowed access to the source code. The reviews must be done by using an IBM security application and the company does not let people take the code out of the room, the international press reported quoting anonymous sources.

While IBM did not directly mention China, it asserted that strict procedures are in place within these technology demonstration centers to ensure that no software source code is released, copied or altered in any way.

"IBM does not provide government access to client data or back doors into our technology," the company added.

The reviews would make IBM the first major US tech company to comply with Beijing's recent demands for a stronger hand in foreign technology there, according a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The report did not make clear which products IBM was allowing reviews of or how long officials can spend looking at the code and IBM did not address those issues, the Journal noted.

China has considered its reliance on foreign technology a national security weakness, especially after former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden's revelations that US spy agencies planted code in US-made software to snoop on overseas targets.

IBM has been more willing to strike closer partnerships with China's government than many other US tech companies, the Journal report said.

IBM said in Friday's statement that programs to review product source code are not unique to the company, citing Microsoft as an example. Microsoft signed an agreement in 2003 allowing China controlled access to Windows source code, and has struck similar deals with Russia and the United Kingdom.