Computer devices must be able to connect to each other, utilize the Internet, exchange data and information with each other at lightning speeds — whether it is over physical or wireless technologies. Behind the scenes, Open Source is driving this worldwide digital transformation and impacting the daily lives of individuals and businesses throughout society. We have come to expect information to be shared between devices within milliseconds. And we expect this to happen without security breaches. To ensure this takes place requires collective effort and involves all parties — from programmers and developers, to businesses of all sizes and government organizations — involved in the software development ecosystem. After all it is Open Source code that is the key driver behind not only software services and products, but it provides connectivity between computing devices allowing them to exchange data and share resources. DevSecOps divisions are leading the way by approaching security as an ongoing part of software development and “baking” security into every step of the development cycle.

Unfortunately, Open Source security is a growing global concern as cyberattacks against computer networks increase. (Read our in-depth whitepaper about Open Source Security.) According to an article in Security Brief Asia, cyberattacks against corporate networks increased 50% in 2021. Education and research industries were hit the hardest, averaging 1,605 attacks per week, with government organizations, communications companies, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) close behind. Even attacks on healthcare were up 71% on pre-pandemic levels, showing nothing is off-limits to threat actors. The Check Point Software “2022 Security Report” also disclosed that email is an increasingly popular way to distribute malware — especially during the pandemic — and now accounts for 84% of malware distribution.

Given what is at stake, the Open Source community needs to unite and tackle these security issues. As just one example of more that will follow from the global community, the Open Source Security Foundation’s Alpha-Omega Project is improving software supply chain security for 10,000 Open Source Software (OSS) projects. Microsoft and Google supported the project with an initial investment of $5 million and committed personnel for the initiative.

As a result of increasing automation, cloud usage, greater collaboration and evolving applications, organizations are de-centralizing their infrastructure approaches to optimize connectivity. Meanwhile, businesses are integrating Software-Defined Networking in Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN), which not only simplifies management and operation functions, but delivers flexible network infrastructures. Experts predict Intent-based networking will become more mainstream than it already is. Furthermore, as applications shift to containers and Kubernetes, the complexity of managing networks may challenge companies.
As the Network & Security landscape continues to evolve, industry businesses realize the benefits we bring to their companies when it comes to Open Source, Patent Protection and free cross-licensing to the Linux System patents of nearly 3,700 community members, including many of the largest competitors in Computer Networking & Security.