White House is working on security of open-source software

The Biden administration will try to make open-source software more secure. Several open-source software providers and developers have been invited to a meeting in mid-January 2021, Bloomberg reports.

According to the financial news service, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has invited key tech companies, including software vendors, software developers and cloud companies, to a meeting to improve the security of open source software. In concrete terms, this meeting lasts one day and is chaired by Deputy National Security Advisor for cyber and emerging technology Anne Neuberger.

Consequence of Log4j crisis

The invitation comes in response to the controversy surrounding the recently discovered Log4j vulnerability. According to the National Security Advisor, the popularity of open source software and that this software is often developed by volunteers is an important national security issue. Jake Sullivan points out that the security issues that the Log4j vulnerability has revealed make this clear.

Active management of software security

The Biden administration is very active in the field of cybersecurity. In August 2021, in a conversation with major tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google, President Joe Biden already mentioned cybersecurity as a major national security issue. In this conversation, the various tech companies promised to invest heavily in security.

Major open-source providers and developers are also busy improving the security of their solutions. For example, the Linux Foundation has raised 8.8 million euros ($10 million) from partners to promote the Open Source Security Foundation project. This is an industry initiative to improve the security of open source software. Undoubtedly to be continued.