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December Newsletter - OpenSSF

OpenSSF Newsletter – December 2025

By Newsletter

Welcome to the December 2025 edition of the OpenSSF Newsletter! Here’s a roundup of the latest developments, key events, and upcoming opportunities in the Open Source Security community.

TL;DR:

🎁 2025 OpenSSF Annual Report

🎁 Free OpenSSF and Linux Foundation Education Courses

☃️ Recap: OpenSSF Community Day Korea 2025

☃️ KubeCon Keynote Recap

☃️ OpenSSF at OSPOlogyLive Europe

☃️ New podcast episodes (#46–47): AI, open source & collaboration (Jay White, Microsoft) and supply chain security in academia (Justin Cappos, NYU)

❄️ Alpha-Omega strengthened SBOM tooling and FreeBSD security

❄️ Gemara site launched

❄️ SecurityCon NA session videos now online

❄️ SLSA v1.2 adds a new Source Track

❄️ OpenBao v2.4.4 released

❄️ Upcoming events: FOSDEM (31 Jan & 1 Feb 2026), Open Source SecurityCon (23 March 2026), KubeCon+CloudNativeCon Europe (23-26, March 2026)

2025 OpenSSF Annual Report

2025 OpenSSF Annual Report

Discover how the open source security community moved forward in 2025. The OpenSSF Annual Report highlights major achievements in education, tooling, vulnerability management, research, and global collaboration with insights from leadership and working groups. It’s a powerful look at how far we’ve come and where we’re headed as we work together to strengthen the security of open source software.

Download the 2025 OpenSSF Annual Report and explore the progress, impact, and vision shaping the future of open source security.

Blogs: What’s New in the OpenSSF Community?

From Beginner to Builder: Free OpenSSF and Linux Foundation Education Courses

From Beginner to Builder: Free OpenSSF and Linux Foundation Education Courses

Level up your open source security skills with this practical roundup from Ejiro Oghenekome and Sal Kimmich, CSM, a curated list of free, self-paced Linux Foundation Education and OpenSSF courses built for developers who want to contribute with confidence. From secure coding and threat modeling to OpenSSF Scorecard automation, SBOMs/signatures, and even essential context like ethics, inclusion, and new regulations, this blog post maps out clear learning paths you can start right away, before (or alongside) your next contribution. Read the blog.

Recap: OpenSSF Community Day Korea 2025

Recap: OpenSSF Community Day Korea 2025

OpenSSF Community Day Korea 2025, held on November 4 in Seoul, brought developers and security engineers together for practical sessions on open source and software supply chain security. Talks spanned CI/CD hardening, SBOM-driven tooling, Linux kernel testing, post-quantum cryptography, and AI/ML security, all framed by OpenSSF’s pillars of Education, Policy, Projects, and Community. The event marked a strong start for a growing OpenSSF community in Korea, with public, private, and academic stakeholders aligning around the message that securing open source is shared work. Read the recap blog.

KubeCon Keynote Recap: “Supply Chain Reaction” and Why the OSPS Baseline Matters More Than Ever

KubeCon Keynote Recap: “Supply Chain Reaction” and Why the OSPS Baseline Matters More Than Ever

How can a Kubernetes cluster with zero known vulnerabilities still be compromised?

In their KubeCon keynote “Supply Chain Reaction: A Cautionary Tale in K8s Security,” Stacey Potter (Community Manager, OpenSSF) and Adolfo García Veytia (Founder and Engineer, Carabiner Systems) walked through a realistic incident where a compromised compiler image injected a crypto-mining payload long before workloads reached the cluster, bypassing traditional defenses. They showed how tools like SLSA, Sigstore, Kyverno, and Ampel help secure the entire software lifecycle, and why the new Open Source Project Security (OSPS) Baseline with its eight control families and three maturity levels gives projects a practical, stepwise framework to resist invisible supply-chain attacks. 

The talk makes a clear case: adopting the OSPS Baseline is now essential for any open source project that wants real, preventative supply-chain security. Learn more.

OpenSSF Projects in Less Than 5 Minutes

Short on time but curious about open source security tools? This video series features quick interviews with OpenSSF maintainers, giving you a fast, developer-focused look at the projects, standards, and initiatives they’re building. Hear directly from the people behind the code and discover which tools you might want to try next. Watch the videos here.

OpenSSF at OSPOlogyLive Europe

Madalin Neag, EU Policy Advisor, OpenSSF giving a talk at OSPOlogyLive Europe

Madalin Neag, EU Policy Advisor at OpenSSF participated in OSPOlogyLive Europe, where he presented The Cybersecurity Skills Framework presentation and discussed why securing software requires investing in people and shared security knowledge, not just technology. The session highlighted OpenSSF’s leadership in building practical, role-based security capabilities across engineering teams. The framework provides a clear, actionable map for identifying security skill gaps and prioritizing capability development across the software ecosystem. It also demonstrated how organizations can use a common language for security skills to systematically improve their cybersecurity posture.”

What’s in the SOSS? An OpenSSF Podcast:

#47 – S2E24 Teaching the Next Generation: Software Supply Chain Security in Academia with Justin Cappos

On the latest episode of What’s in the SOSS, host Yesenia Yser sits down with Justin Cappos, professor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, to discuss why software supply chain security is still missing from many university curricula and how hands on, open source first education can better prepare students for real world security work.

The conversation explores gaps in traditional computer science education, the importance of teaching open source collaboration, and how initiatives like the Linux Foundation’s Academic Computing Accreditation Program are helping institutions modernize security education.

🎧 Listen to the episode and learn more about the Academic Computing Accreditation Program: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/academic-computing-accreditation

#46 – S2E23 Securing the Future: AI, Open Source, and Collaboration with Jay White (Microsoft)

In this episode of What’s in the SOSS? Jay White from Microsoft’s Azure office of the CTO joins to talk about his path into open source and how it led him to focus on AI, machine learning, and security. He explains how model signing and transparency are becoming core to trustworthy AI, and shares ongoing work in OpenSSF and the Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI) to build standards for AI supply chain security. The conversation touches on the challenges of cultural representation in AI models, why collaboration across companies and communities is essential, and how practitioners can get involved. Jay also reflects on the importance of community building and continuous learning as AI and open source evolve together.

News from OpenSSF Community Meetings and Projects:

In the News:

  • Dark Reading published expert commentary from Christopher Robinson after speaking to him about OpenSSF’s work categorizing 150,000 malicious npm packages. CRob notes the importance of MFA and artifact signing to verify that code is secure here: “Infamous Shai-hulud Worm Resurfaces From the Depths.”
  • In a Forbes article about the value of inclusive and resilient financial systems, Christopher Robinson of OpenSSF and Michael Lieberman of Kusari are included for their thoughts on secure fintech systems. Both suggest that open source software can play an important role in the future of finance, down to the code, and the Open Software Security Baseline is referenced in the article, “Secure By Design: Financial Systems For Climate Resilience.”
  • This month VMblog published Christopher Robinson’s cybersecurity predictions for 2026. CRob points out the importance of MLSecOps, SBOMs, and more in the article, “Five cybersecurity predictions for 2026.” 

Meet OpenSSF at These Upcoming Events!

Connect with the OpenSSF Community at these key events:

Ways to Participate:

There are a number of ways for individuals and organizations to participate in OpenSSF. Learn more here.

You’re invited to…

See You Next Month! 

We want to get you the information you most want to see in your inbox. Missed our previous newsletters? Read here!

Have ideas or suggestions for next month’s newsletter about the OpenSSF? Let us know at marketing@openssf.org, and see you next month! 

Regards,

The OpenSSF Team

OpenSSF Newsletter – December 2024

By Newsletter

Welcome to the December 2024 edition of the OpenSSF Newsletter! Here’s a roundup of the latest developments, key events, and upcoming opportunities in the Open Source Security community.

Thank You for an Amazing 2024!

OpenSSFAnnualReport

As 2024 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude for the dedication, collaboration, and innovation you have brought to the OpenSSF community this year. Together, we achieved remarkable milestones—from expanding our global membership and launching impactful education initiatives to advancing critical security projects and fostering collaborations with public and private sectors. Your contributions have strengthened our shared mission to secure the open source ecosystem and build a safer, more reliable digital future.

As we look forward to 2025, we’re excited to continue fostering a vibrant and inclusive community, deepening collaborations, and driving meaningful change together. We appreciate your role in this journey.

Wishing you a safe and joyful holiday season!

Download report

The Open Source Software Stewards and Manufacturers Workshop and the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)

In December, the Linux Foundation Europe and the OpenSSF hosted the Open Source Software Stewards and Manufacturers Workshop in Amsterdam, focusing on the implications of the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). The event brought together industry leaders, community experts, and government officials to align on CRA obligations and foster collaboration for compliance.

Key outcomes included the formation of the Global Cyber Policy Working Group and three workstreams: CRA Readiness & Awareness, CRA Tooling & Processes, and CRA Standardization.

Details on how to participate and learn more:

Understanding the CRA: OpenSSF’s Role in the Cyber Resilience Act Implementation – Part 1

UnderstandingCRA1

Published as Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 in the Official Journal of the European Union, the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) entered into force (EIF) on December 10, 2024. The CRA will fully apply three years later, on December 11, 2027. The CRA will obligate all products with digital elements, including their remote data processing, put on the European market to follow this regulation. This new blog series will cover the implementation of the CRA and its relevance to open source software.

In Part 1, we will provide a general overview of the CRA and highlight LF Europe and the OpenSSF’s current activities in relation to the implementation.

Learn more

Understanding the CRA: OpenSSF’s Role in the Cyber Resilience Act Implementation – Part 2

CRABlog2
In Part 1, we provided a general overview of the CRA and highlighted OpenSSF’s current activities related to its implementation. In Part 2, we’ll take a closer look at the three-year implementation timeline and what lies ahead. 

Read more

Shaping the Future of Generative AI: A Focus on Security

GenAIstudy

The Shaping the Future of Generative AI report, sponsored by LF AI & Data and CNCF, highlights how organizations prioritize security, cost, and performance as they adopt GenAI. Security remains a top concern, particularly in sectors like finance and healthcare, where privacy and regulatory compliance are critical.

The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) AI/ML Working Group plays a vital role in this landscape, focusing on initiatives like model signing with Sigstore to enhance trust and security in AI systems. This blog ties together insights from the report and OpenSSF’s ongoing efforts to address security challenges in GenAI adoption.

Open Source Usage Trends and Security Challenges Revealed in New Study

Census III Report

The Linux Foundation and Harvard released Census III, a groundbreaking study analyzing Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) usage and security challenges. Findings reveal trends like the rise of cloud-specific packages, increased reliance on Rust, and the critical role of a small group of contributors.

Learn more

Download report

 

Honda and Guidewire Join the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF)


At the inaugural SOSS Community Day India, OpenSSF welcomed Honda and Guidewire Software as new members, expanding its growing global network to 126 organizations. The event highlights India’s thriving open source ecosystem and brings together leaders to collaborate on securing the software we all depend on.

Learn more

SigstoreCon 2024: Advancing Software Supply Chain Security

SigstoreCon

On November 12, 2024, the software security community gathered in Salt Lake City for SigstoreCon: Supply Chain Day, co-located with KubeCon North America 2024. The one-day conference brought together developers, maintainers, and security experts to explore how Sigstore is transforming software supply chain security through simplified signing and verification of digital artifacts.

Read more

News from OpenSSF Community Meetings and Projects:

In the News:

Meet OpenSSF at These Upcoming Events!

You’re invited to…

See You Next Year! 

We want to get you the information you most want to see in your inbox. Have ideas or suggestions for next month’s newsletter about the OpenSSF? Let us know at marketing@openssf.org, and see you in 2025! 

Regards,

The OpenSSF Team