Security News

Google assuring open source code to secure software supply chains
2022-05-17 16:00

Google has a plan - and a new product plus a partnership with developer-focused security shop Snyk - that attempts to make it easier for enterprises to secure their open source software dependencies. They have corresponding enriched metadata incorporating Container/Artifact Analysis data and are built with Cloud Build, which verifies the code complies with SLSA - this is Google's framework for ensuring the integrity of software artifacts throughout the software supply chain.

Google Created 'Open Source Maintenance Crew' to Help Secure Critical Projects
2022-05-13 22:16

Google on Thursday announced the creation of a new "Open Source Maintenance Crew" to focus on bolstering the security of critical open source projects. The tech giant pointed out Open Source Insights as a tool for analyzing packages and their dependency graphs, using it to determine "Whether a vulnerability in a dependency might affect your code."

A 10-point plan to improve the security of open source software
2022-05-13 09:49

The Linux Foundation and the Open Source Software Security Foundation, with input provided by executives from 37 companies and many U.S. government leaders, delivered a 10-point plan to broadly address open source and software supply chain security, by securing open source security production, improving vulnerability discovery and remediation, and shortening the patching response time of the ecosystem. Incident Response - Establish the OpenSSF Open Source Security Incident Response Team, security experts who can step in to assist open source projects during critical times when responding to a vulnerability.

Our Medical Devices' Open Source Problem – What Are the Risks?
2022-05-11 14:01

Built and supported by vast communities of developers, OSS has become the ubiquitous building block of devices and apps in the general information technology community where 92% of applications now contain open source software - and medical devices have been catching up with that trend over the past few years. One open source library could be pulling in any number of dependencies: other open source libraries in a potentially long chain that also need to be examined.

Here's a New Tool That Scans Open-Source Repositories for Malicious Packages
2022-05-02 20:59

The Open Source Security Foundation has announced the initial prototype release of a new tool that's capable of carrying out dynamic analysis of all packages uploaded to popular open source repositories. Called the Package Analysis project, the initiative aims to secure open-source packages by detecting and alerting users to any malicious behavior with the goal of bolstering the security of the software supply chain and increasing trust in open-source software.

Open source 'Package Analysis' tool finds malicious npm, PyPI packages
2022-05-01 15:42

The Open Source Security Foundation, a Linux Foundation-backed initiative has released its first prototype version of the 'Package Analysis' tool that aims to catch and counter malicious attacks on open source registries. In a pilot run that lasted less than a month, the open source project released on GitHub, was able to identify over 200 malicious npm and PyPI packages.

Week in review: Outdated open source, the role of the lawyer in cybersecurity
2022-04-24 08:00

The changing role of the CCO: Champion of innovation and business continuityIn this interview with Help Net Security, Simon Winchester, VP Worldwide Advanced Technologies at Jumio, talks about the changing role of the chief compliance officer and how to alleviate some of its burdens in today's highly regulated world. How fast do cybercriminals capitalize on new security weaknesses?Threat intelligence analysts at Skybox Research Lab uncovered a 42% increase in new ransomware programs targeting known vulnerabilities in 2021.

The state of open-source software supply chain security in 2022
2022-04-21 02:30

In this video for Help Net Security, Donald Fischer, CEO at Tidelift, talks about the state of open-source software supply chain security in 2022. Open source is the modern application development platform and is becoming an indispensable part of the software development process for organizations of all sizes.

Challenges development teams face when building applications with open source
2022-04-20 03:00

This comprehensive study of nearly 700 technologists, now in its fourth year, explored the most urgent challenges development teams face when building applications with open source. It also reveals new insights into how confident technologists are in their organizations' current open source management practices, and in the open source components and languages they use more generally.

81% of codebases contain known open source vulnerabilities
2022-04-19 02:00

From an operational risk/maintenance perspective, 85% of the 2,097 codebases contained open source that was more than four years out-of-date. Assessed codebases show open source vulnerabilities are decreasing overall.