Difference between revisions of "Summit 2011 Working Sessions/Session079"

Jeremiah Grossman in his 'Open letter to OWASP' blog post: http://jeremiahgrossman.blogspot.com/2011/01/open-letter-to-owasp.html
"...4) Investment justification
Mountains of documentation on what organizations “should be doing,” are already available. Information security professionals are desperate for resources in how to justify to the business why an investment in application security is crucial. Effective application security programs aren’t easy or cheap to build. They require real organizational change and budget dollars to involve people, process, technology, and services. The justification cannot be because it’s “the right thing to do,” “PCI-DSS said so,” or “the APTs will get us!” That’s unconvincing and mind numbingly old. OWASP can help everyone do better.

One way is by capturing success stories from the OWASP corporate and individual membership. Real people, real companies, who are named, documented, and publicly highlighted. Ask them share how much OWASP materials helped them. What they did exactly and how it positively impacted the organization. Ask them to quantify some metrics in how much they are investing, how they are budgeting, all of which creates a watermark for others. These stories are key proof points their peers can use to follow the paths paved by early adopters.