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OpenSSF was launched in August of 2020 as “a cross-industry collaboration that brings together leaders to improve the security of open source software (OSS)”. This article provides an overview of OpenSSF's mission, what it’s accomplished in its first six months and its plans for the future.

 

The Open Source Software Foundation (OpenSSF) officially launched on August 3, 2020. In this article, we’ll look at why the OpenSSF was formed, what it’s accomplished in its first six months, and its plans for the future.

The world depends on open source software (OSS), so OSS security is vital. Various efforts have been created to help improve OSS security. These efforts include the Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII) in the Linux Foundation, the Open Source Security Coalition (OSSC) founded by the GitHub Security Lab, and the Joint Open Source Software Initiative (JOSSI) founded by Google and others.

It became apparent that progress would be easier if these efforts merged into a single effort. The OpenSSF was created in 2020 as a merging of these three groups into “a cross-industry collaboration that brings together leaders to improve the security of open source software (OSS).”