OWASP Spring Of Code 2007 : Press Release

For Immediate Release

OWASP Spring Of Code 2007 sponsorship initiative and Membership Drive

London, United Kingdom, March 14, 2007

The OWASP Spring of Code 2007 (SpoC 007) aims to financially sponsor contributions to OWASP Projects. SpoC 007 follows up the successful AoC 06 (OWASP Autumn of Code 2006) in which 9 projects were sponsored and greatly improved.

The objective of SpoC 007 is to allow contributors to allocate considerable resources on (existent or new) OWASP projects which are relevant and beneficial to the OWASP community.

The initial Budget for SpoC 007 will be $110,000 USD, and it is funded by OWASP (using current membership fees and profits from past conferences) and newly joined members (currently SPI Dynamics and EDS). In parallel with the Request for Proposals, OWASP would like to invite individuals and companies that benefit from OWASP projects to join OWASP as a member. In addition to the current Membership benefits, the new OWASP members will be able to allocate membership fees to SpoC 007 projects they are interested in (for example SPI Dynamics is sponsoring the OWASP SiteGenerator project).

The SpoC 007 structure and organization is very similar to the very successful OWASP Autumn Of Code 2006 (AoC 06), whereby the major changes are: Bigger budget (with a $20,000 USD sponsorship), the special project: "10 Donations to Open Source projects" and an Internship.

There are no geographical, age or any other form of restrictions of who can apply for an "OWASP Spring of Code 2007" sponsorship. The only requirement is that the candidate shows the potential to accomplish the project's objectives and the commitment to dedicate the time required to complete it in the allocated time frame (projects must be completed by 9th July 2007).

Prospective candidates should visit the http://www.owasp.org/index.php/Owasp_Spring_Of_Code_2007 page for SpoC 007 information (rules & how to apply) and the http://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Spring_Of_Code_2007_Project_Ideas page for project ideas.

Schedule:


 * 14th March – OWASP Spring of Code 2007 initiative is officially launched
 * 30th March - Deadline for project proposals
 * 9th April - Publish of selected projects and start of SpoC projects
 * 17th May - Announcement of the winners of the '10 Donations to Open Source projects' on OWASP Conference in Italy
 * 9th July - Project Completion, participants to deliver final project report

The special SpoC 007 project "10 Donations to Open Source projects" will be made of 10 $1,000 USD grants to the top 10 Open Source projects which OWASP members use regularly and really find useful. The payment would be a no-strings attached "Thanks for the hard work in creating this tool (which is widely used and appreciated in the OWASP community) and please keep working on the next version".

The OWASP Spring Of Code 2007 is not connected to the Google Summer of Code.

The "OWASP Spring of Code 2007" project leader is Dinis Cruz (based in London, UK) who can be contacted for further details.

About OWASP

The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is a 501c3 not-for-profit foundation dedicated to enabling organizations to develop, purchase, and maintain applications that can be trusted. OWASP's open source projects and local chapters produce free, unbiased, open-source documentation and tools. The OWASP community also facilitates conferences, local chapters, papers, presentations, and mailing lists. More information can be found at www.owasp.org.

Contacts

Dinis Cruz, Chief OWASP Evangelist E-mail: dinis.cruz@owasp.net

Andrew van der Stock, OWASP Executive Director, E-mail: vanderaj@owasp.org

Jeff Williams, OWASP Chair (Alternative contact for all OWASP matters), E-mail:jeff.williams@owasp.org