The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) is a cross-industry forum for collaborative improvement of open-source software security. Part of the

Linux Foundation The Linux Foundation (LF) is a non-profit organization established in 2000 to support Linux development and open-source software projects. Background The Linux Foundation started as Open Source Development Labs in 2000 to standardize and prom ...

, the OpenSSF works on various technical and educational initiatives to improve the security of the open-source software ecosystem.

History

The OpenSSF was formed in August 2020 as the successor to the

Core Infrastructure Initiative The Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII) was a project of the Linux Foundation to fund and support free and open-source software projects that are critical to the functioning of the Internet and other major information systems. The project was ann ...

, another Linux Foundation project. In October 2021,

Brian Behlendorf Brian Behlendorf (born March 30, 1973) is an American technologist, executive, computer programmer and leading figure in the open-source software movement. He was a primary developer of the Apache Web server, the most popular web server software ...

was announced as the OpenSSF's first full-time general manager. In May 2023, OpenSSF announced Omkhar Arasaratnam as its new general manager, and Behlendorf became CTO of the organization.

Activity

Working Groups and Projects

The OpenSSF houses various initiatives under its 10 current working groups. The OpenSSF also houses two projects: the code signing and verification service Sigstore and Alpha-Omega, a large-scale effort to improve software supply chain security.

Policy

The

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

held a meeting on software security with government and private sector stakeholders on January 13, 2022. In May 2022, the OpenSSF hosted a follow-up meeting, the Open Source Software Security Summit II, where participants from industry agreed on a 10-point Open Source Software Security Mobilization Plan, which received $30 million in funding commitments. In August 2023, the OpenSSF served as an advisor for

DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

's AI Cyber Challenge (AIxCC), a competition around innovation around AI and cybersecurity. In September 2023, the OpenSSF hosted the Secure Open Source Software Summit with the White House, where government agencies and companies discussed security challenges and initiatives around open source software.

References

External links