Have you ever considered an open-source audit for your organisation? – JD Supra

Whether its due to needing to identify known vulnerabilities in a codebase containing open-source code, or due to an impending acquisition of a software company, youve come to the right place. This article will walk you through what open-source code is, when you should consider investing in an open-source audit all the way through to what happens after the audit has been completed.

What is Open-Source code?

Before we dive in to explaining all about open-source code audits and when you should consider them, lets first start by understanding what open-source code is.

The Source code is the part of software that most computer users dont ever see; its the code computer programmers can manipulate to change how a piece of softwarea program or applicationworks. Programmers who have access to a computer programs source code can improve that program by adding features to it or fixing parts that dont always work correctly. Open-source code is widely used by software development companies to accelerate development and reduced costs. Open-source software is software with source code that is publicly available and anyone can inspect, modify and enhance.

According to Gartner, 95% of the IT enterprises across the globe use open-source software for their mission-critical IT workloads, whether they are aware of it or not. Benefits to using open-source software include freedom and flexibility, lower costs, high quality, and innovation via communities.

However, the use of open-source software also creates challenges for businesses. These include an increase in security breaches, they can sometimes become too complex, software patches and updates will have to be managed by the IT teams and it may come with a lack of customer support. Using open-source code within proprietary software also creates challenges if the code breaches any licensing rules.

What is an open-source code audit?

An open-source code audit is used by businesses to detect and identify the existence of open-source code. The audit will identify the open-source code and their corresponding licences. There are many common open-source licenses Including:

There are certain reasons as to why businesses today use open-source audits. These include:

Investment The opportunity to invest in a software or SaaS company may be tempting. Before investing you need to ensure that the IP of the company is owned by that company and does not contain open-source code which may negatively affect the value of the company.

Acquisition (M&A) During the acquisition of a software company or the intellectual property (IP) belonging to a company, it is essential to identify if any of these products contain open-source code not owned by that company. For example, if open-source code with a GPL license exists within the code base, this will most likely be problematic.

Outsourced Developer If you subcontract software development to a third-party developer, you may request assurances or warranties that the codebase does not contain any open-source code. In order to determine if the developer is keeping to their end of the agreement, it is essential to conduct an open-source code audit to verify compliance.

Security The use of open-source code comes with security risks as the code is available to the public. Hackers can use this code to seek out and exploit vulnerabilities that may exist. Research has shown that 78% of audited codebases contained at least one open-source vulnerability, of which 54% were high-risk ones that hackers could exploit. The recent Log4j breach highlights the inherent risks of opensource code embedded within IT systems. According to cybersecurity experts, hackers can gain easy access to a companys computer server, giving them entry into other parts of a network. Its also very hard to find the vulnerability or see if a system has already been compromised. An open-source code audit and implementing a policy of maintaining a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) will assist in identifying known vulnerabilities in a codebase containing open-source code.

What happens after the open-source code audit?

After the audit, a final audit report will be presented and should provide a complete overview of the build of materials. Items in the report may include the following:

It is important to choose an open-source code audit vendor who can walk you through what was found and provide actionable insights for the IT team within your business to run with.

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Have you ever considered an open-source audit for your organisation? - JD Supra