OpenSSF Announces 15 New Members To Further Strengthen Open Source Software Supply Chain Security

Expands core working groups ahead of OpenSSF Day

SAN FRANCISCO, May 9, 2022 – The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) a cross-industry organization hosted at the Linux Foundation that brings together the world’s most important software supply chain security initiatives, today announced 15 new members from leading software development, cybersecurity, financial services, communications, and academic sectors.

This round of commitments is led by two new premier members, Atlassian and Sonatype, who will join the OpenSSF governing board. New general member commitments come from Arnica, Bloomberg, Comcast, Cycode, F5 Networks, Futurewei Technologies, Legit Security, Sectrend, SUSE, and Tenable.

“We are thrilled to welcome Atlassian and Sonatype, two companies who play critical roles in modern software development and security, to the OpenSSF governing board”, Brian Behlendorf, General Manager at OpenSSF. “Open source software supply chain attacks threaten the very foundations of innovation that billions of people rely upon. Our 15 new members join a growing community of organizations, developers, researchers, and security professionals that are investing time and resources required to respond in this constantly evolving threat landscape.”

Open source software has become the foundation on which our digital economy is built. As noted in the Linux Foundation’s 2022 Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) and Cybersecurity Readiness report, 98% of organizations use open source regularly. The same study revealed that 72% of organizations are very or extremely concerned about software security. Recent vulnerabilities, such as the one impacting Log4j, have caused many organizations to prioritize software supply chain security and realize the need to be fully abreast of the open source ecosystem, as well as contributing to it. From governments to businesses, open source security has been brought to the top of the agenda as a priority issue to address and as a result, OpenSSF is seeing membership rise at a rapid pace.

The latest commitments follow a productive period for OpenSSF in which the foundation expanded its core working groups to include Securing Software Repositories. This group aims to improve cybersecurity practices where developers download open source packages most often. 

Furthermore, on June 20th, the foundation will host a full day of sessions at OpenSSF Day. Presentations, delivered by working group leaders, will include subjects such as Best Practice Badges and Other Good Practices, Three Things Your Open Source Project Must Consider, and Securing Critical Projects. The day will conclude with a panel discussion on the Future of Securing Open Source Software. Registration and attendance are free for all those attending the Open Source Summit conference.

Premier Member Quotes

Atlassian

“Open source software is critical to so many of the tools and applications that are used by thousands of development teams worldwide. Consequently, the security of software supply chains has been elevated to the top of most organizations’ priorities in the wake of recent high-profile vulnerabilities in open source software. Only through concerted efforts by industry, government and other stakeholders can we ensure that open source innovation continues to flourish in a secure environment. This is why we are happy to be joining OpenSSF, where we can collaborate on key initiatives that raise awareness and drive action around the crucial issues facing software supply chain security today. As a premier member, we’re excited to be a key contributor to driving meaningful change and we are optimistic about what we can achieve through our partnership with OpenSSF and like-minded organizations within its membership.” – Adrian Ludwig, Chief Trust Officer, Atlassian

Sonatype

“As the maintainers of the largest repository of open source components in Maven Central, we have a unique view into how great the demand for open source has become in recent years. However, as that demand has grown, bad actors have recognized the power of open source and are seeking to use that against the industry. As these software supply chain attacks become more commonplace, open source developers have become the frontline of this battle. Our key mission at Sonatype is to help people understand their software supply chain, and harness all of the good that open source has to offer, without any of the risk. OpenSSF and its members share a similar vision. I’m excited to play a bigger role in OpenSSF as a board member and collectively work with other members to keep open source ecosystems safe and secure, as we all figure out how to battle both new and old attacks on the community.” – Brian Fox, CTO and co-founder, Sonatype

General Member Quotes

Arnica

“Software supply chain attack vectors have consistently caught the security community off-guard. Based on Arnica’s research across all attacks since 2018, we found two consistent root causes. One, improper access management to source code and two, inability to detect abnormal behavior in the developer toolset. The journey to solve these gaps is long and we are working on perfecting each risk mitigation strategy one-by-one, starting with introducing the first-ever self-service access management for GitHub.” – Nir Valtman, Co-Founder and CEO, Arnica

Bloomberg

“We are incredibly excited to join the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), whose values of public good, openness and transparency, and diversity, inclusion, and representation, align with those of Bloomberg. As an ‘Open Source First’ organization, we greatly value open source and its use within the finance sector, and we are fully committed to helping secure the open source software supply chain, something we have invested in via an ongoing collaboration between our CTO Office and Engineering organization.” – Gavin McNay, Security Architect in Bloomberg’s CTO Office

Comcast

“Comcast is committed to open source software. We use it to build products, attract talent, and develop our technology to improve the customer experience. When it comes to open source security, everyone plays a role. We are thrilled to join OpenSSF with the global open-source community to see how we can continue to evolve to make open-source development even more secure.” – Shilla Saebi, Open Source Program Office Lead, Comcast Cable

F5 Networks

“The growth of open source usage has magnified the importance of advancing OSS supply chain security for all, which can only be achieved as a shared priority among the industry. At F5, we are committed to ensuring our customers’ apps are fast, available and secure in any environment. That is why we value the work of the Open Source Security Foundation and its participating members, and look forward to sharing our domain expertise to help advance this important work.” – Geng Lin, EVP and Chief Technology Officer, F5

Futurewei Technologies

“OpenSSF is a premier and leading organization on open source security. Futurewei is very excited to join OpenSSF, and to engage in the conversations on the important topics of open source security and sustainability. We look forward to exciting discussions and collaborations with OpenSSF.” – Chris Xie, Head of Open Source Strategy and Business Development 

Legit Security

“Legit Security is pleased to join OpenSSF to advance the security of software supply chains within the open-source ecosystem as well as giving organizations tools to secure the infrastructure that makes up the SDLC – such as pipelines and systems. Attacks on software supply chains are estimated to increase between three to six times per year and are a global threat. We look forward to working with OpenSSF to publish security research and contribute tools and code for more secure software delivery and consumption across the entire community.” – Liav Caspi, CTO of Legit Security

Sectrend

“We feel very excited to be a part of this industry-leading Open Source Security foundation (OpenSSF). Together with other top-notch peers around the globe in various sectors under this initiative, we, Sectrend, are aiming to assist organizations of any size address the security and license compliance risks from open-source software. Securing the software supply chain is very critical for every company. Within the framework of OpenSSF or the Linux Foundation, Sectrend will make a tremendous contribution to this community-driven process in tooling, training, research, best practices, and consulting. Beyond Security, More than Open Source.” – Alex Xue, CEO, Sectrend

SUSE

“According to recent research in an Economist Impact survey, 95% of organizations are practicing open innovation, demonstrating how open source software is critical to business’s infrastructure and applications. With this comes the need for software to be secure and is why SUSE takes a proactive stance against security and compliance risks, leveraging tools for full lifecycle security including vulnerability management, CI/CD pipeline security, run-time security and government security certifications. SUSE is joining OpenSSF to further collaborate with the efforts to ensure the security of the open source software supply chain.” – Brent Schroeder, Head of SUSE’s Office of the CTO

Tenable

“We’re proud to be part of OpenSSF and join so many industry peers who understand the critical importance of securing open-source software and its associated supply chain. Log4j showed the world how pervasive OSS use is and how vulnerable it can be if the proper development and controls are not put in place to protect it. Tenable’s commitment to increasing visibility in attack surfaces includes shifting left to secure software development and helping organizations understand where the risks are throughout their systems.” – Glen Pendley, CTO, Tenable

The foundation also announced new Associate Members, including the Eclipse Foundation, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISCAS). 

Additional Resources

• View the complete list of the OpenSSF members
• Attend OpenSSF Day at the Linux Foundation’s Open Source Summit on June 20 
• Contribute efforts to one or more of the active OpenSSF working groups
• Read the OpenSSF and Harvard’s Census II Report, shedding light on the most commonly used FOSS packages at the application library level

About OpenSSF

Hosted by the Linux Foundation, the OpenSSF (launched in August 2020) is a cross-industry organization that brings together the industry’s most important open source security initiatives and the individuals and companies that support them. It combines the Linux Foundation’s Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII), founded in response to the 2014 Heartbleed bug, and the Open Source Security Coalition, founded by the GitHub Security Lab to build a community to support open source security for decades to come. The OpenSSF is committed to collaboration and working both upstream and with existing communities to advance open source security for all. For more information, please visit: https://openssf.org/

About the Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation and its projects are supported by more than 1,800 members and is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. Linux Foundation’s projects are critical to the world’s infrastructure, including Linux, Kubernetes, ONAP, Node.js, Hyperledger, RISC-V, and more.  The Linux Foundation’s methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at: linuxfoundation.org

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