Category:OWASP Project

OWASP Project Lifecycle

The OWASP Projects Lifecycle represents a balance between keeping a very loose structure around OWASP projects, and ensuring that OWASP consumers are not confused about a project’s maturity and quality. The lifecycle stage allows consumers to easily identify mature projects, and projects that are proofs of concept, experimental, and classified as prototypes in their current state. The greater the maturity of the project, the greater the level of responsibility for the project leader. These responsibilities are not trivial as OWASP provides incentives and benefits (Section 7) for projects who take on these added responsibilities.

The OWASP Project Lifecycle is broken down into the following stages:

Incubator Projects: OWASP Incubator projects represent the experimental playground where projects are still being designed, ideas are still being proven, and development is still underway. The “OWASP Incubator” label allows OWASP consumers to readily identify a project’s maturity; moreover, the label allows project leaders to leverage the OWASP name while their project is still maturing. OWASP Incubator projects are given a place on the OWASP Projects Portal to leverage the organizations' infrastructure, and establish their presence and project history.

Lab Projects: OWASP Labs projects represent projects that have produced a deliverable of significant value. Leaders of OWASP Labs projects are expected to stand behind the quality of their projects as these projects have matured to the point where they are accepted by a significant portion of the OWASP community. While these projects are typically not production ready, the OWASP community expects that an OWASP Labs project leader is producing releases that are ready for mainstream usage. OWASP Labs Projects are meant to be the collection of established projects that have gained community support and acclaim by undergoing the project review process.

Flagship Projects: The OWASP Flagship designation is given to projects that have demonstrated superior maturity, established quality, and strategic value to OWASP and application security as a whole. Eligible projects are selected from the OWASP Labs project pool. This selection process generally ensures that there is only one project of each type covering any particular security space. OWASP Flagship projects represent projects that are not only mature, but are also projects that OWASP as an organization provides direct support to maintaining. The core mission of OWASP is to make application security visible and so as an organization, OWASP has a vested interest in the success of its Flagship projects. Since Flagship projects have such high visibility, these projects are expected to uphold the most stringent requirements of all OWASP Projects.

Code Projects: OWASP code projects are very important for the cyber security solutions. Because these projects are used to find out the application security problems and try to solve those problems.

OWASP Project Stage Benefits

This section outlines the benefits of starting an OWASP project, and the benefits of being at each different stage in the projects lifecycle. In my short time here at OWASP as the PM, I have had several potential project leaders ask me what the benefits are of starting their project with OWASP. Below is my proposal for each Stage’s benefits.

Incubator

• Financial Donation Management Assistance
• Project Review Support
• WASPY Awards Nominations
• OWASP OSS and OPT Participation
• Opportunity to submit proposal: $500 for Development.
• Community Engagement and Support
• Recognition and visibility of being associated with the OWASP Brand.

Labs

• All benefits given to Incubator Projects
• Technical Writing Support
• Graphic Design Support
• Project Promotion Support
• OWASP OSS and OPT: Preference

Flagship

• All benefits given to Incubator & Labs Projects
• Grant finding and proposal writing help
• Yearly marketing plan development
• OWASP OSS and OPT participation preference

For more detailed information on OWASP Project Stage Benefits, please see the Project Handbook.

Project Monitoring Incubator/Documentation

Every 6 months, a project monitoring assessment takes place to evaluate if projects had any releases during this period.A warning will be sent to projects without any activity in 90 days and after 180 days, the project will be set automatically as inactive. You can set your project active at any time, as long as:

• There has been commits to the project's open repository or
• There has been a beta release of the documentation produced so far or
• Provide a detailed Roadmap

Importance of a well thought out Roadmap

Many Incubator project leaders struggle with creating a realistic planning, which should be based on their available resources and time. A well thought out plan makes a difference between a procrastinating project and a successful one. The important aspect of this is, that the project leader is able to create a plan based on his situation. The following is an example of a Roadmap, which has focused to produce a Documentation first release in a year and a basic outline how they plan to cover 4 essential aspects which are Research & Development, Marketing, Planning and Goals.

"Your [project] roadmap should tell a coherent story about the likely growth of your product. Each release should build on the previous one and move you closer towards your vision. Your roadmap should be convincing and realistic: Don’t speculate or oversell your [project]. Be clear who your audience is: An internal roadmap talks to development, marketing, sales, service, and the other groups involved in making your [project] a success; and external one talks to existing and prospective customers." Extracted from : "[10 Tips for Creating an Agile Product Roadmap]"

Project Monitoring for LABS/Flagship

These project represent the best OWASP has to offer, therefore monitoring of these projects is closely supervised.

For Code and Tools

For projects holding Flagship status, we closely monitor their health every 6 months on the following, among other key indicators:

• Can the project be built correctly?
• Does the project has any activity(commits) in the last 6 months?
• Does the project had any releases in the last 6 months?
• Has the project leaders updated his wiki or website to reflect latest releases?

For Documentation

For this part, we are working on the development of an adequate assessment criteria The following is a draft of the new process proposal: Proposal for Reviewing OWASP Document projects

OWASP Project Graduation

The Project Graduation Process is an optional process undertaken at the request of a project leader using the Incubator Graduation Form. The purpose of this process is to move a project from the OWASP Incubator into the OWASP Labs. In order to be considered for OWASP Labs, an Incubator project must have submitted an OWASP reviewed deliverable, and obtained at least two (2) positive responses for each of the core criteria project health questions.

The review centers around the following core questions. Each core question has three (3) specific questions made up of binary queries. A project must receive at least two (2) positive responses from each reviewer in two of the binary questions, to warrant a postive response for the core question. Each core question must receive a positive response from both project reviewers to pass the Project Health Assessment for Incubator Projects.

• Project Graduation Criteria Checklist

OWASP Project Health Assessment

The Project Health Assessment is an optional process undertaken at the request of a project leader when he/she applies for Project Graduation for projects going from Incubator to LAB and from LAB to Flagship. The purpose of this assessment is to determine whether a project meets the minimum criteria of an OWASP Project outlined in the Project Health Assessment Criteria Document. If a project passes the assessment, it then becomes eligible to graduate into the OWASP Labs Project stage. In order to be considered for OWASP Labs, an Incubator project must have submitted an OWASP reviewed deliverable, and obtained at least two (2) positive responses for each of the core criteria project health questions.

OWASP Project Deliverable/Release Assessment

The Project Deliverable/Release Review is an optional process undertaken at the request of a project leader using the Project Deliverable Review Form. The purpose of this process is to review a project’s progress, and to make sure the project is heading in the right direction based on the roadmap they provided at project inception.

Reviews must be performed by two (2) OWASP Chapter or Project Leaders, and their review must answer affirmatively to at least the first two (2) core Project Deliverable/Release Review questions. A project must pass the OWASP Project Deliverable/Release Assessment in order to graduate into the OWASP Labs Project stage.

• Project Deliverable/Release Assessment Criteria Checklist

The Brand Usage Rules

See OWASP's The Brand Usage Rules for details.

Project Icons & Templates

See OWASP'S Project Icons & Templates for details.

(Following links and images are provided for a quick overview only, the primary page is Project Icons & Templates).

If you require more assistance with these files and/or templates, please contact the OWASP staff for assistance

OWASP Operational Wiki Template

OWASP Example Template: DO NOT EDIT

OpenSAMM

OpenSAMM Icons

Construction:

Deployment:

Governance:

Verification:

Book Cover Files

See OWASP's Project Icons & Templates for details.

Lulu Guide

Download the Book Cover Zip File

OWASP Project Infrastructure

• OWASP Project Lifecycle: The OWASP Projects Lifecycle represents a balance between keeping a very loose structure around OWASP projects, and ensuring that OWASP consumers are not confused about a project’s maturity and quality. The lifecycle stage allows consumers to easily identify mature projects, and projects that are proofs of concept, experimental, and classified as prototypes in their current state.

• Incubator Project: OWASP Incubator projects represent the experimental playground where projects are still being fleshed out, ideas are still being proven, and development is still underway. The “OWASP Incubator” label allows OWASP consumers to readily identify a project’s maturity. The label also allows project leaders to leverage the OWASP name while their project is still maturing.

• Labs Project: OWASP Labs projects represent projects that have produced a deliverable of value. While these projects are typically not production ready, the OWASP community expects that an OWASP Labs project leader is producing releases that are at least ready for mainstream usage.

• Flagship Project: The OWASP Flagship designation is given to projects that have demonstrated strategic value to OWASP and application security as a whole.

• Project Benefits: The standard list of resources and incentives made available to project leaders based on their project's current maturity level.

OWASP Project Reviews

• Project Reviews: Project reviews are the method OWASP uses to establish a minimal baseline of project characteristics and release quality. Reviews are not mandatory, but they are necessary if a project leader wishes to graduate to the next level of maturity within the OWASP Global Projects infrastructure. Projects can be reviewed when an Incubator project wishes to graduate into the OWASP Labs designation, and project releases can be reviewed if they want the quality of their deliverable to be vouched for by OWASP.

• Project Reviewer Pool: The project reviewer pool is made up of veteran reviewers who have proven themselves dedicated to executing quality reviews of projects.

• Project Graduation: The Project Graduation Process is an optional process undertaken at the request of a project leader using the Incubator Graduation Form. The purpose of this process is to move a project from the OWASP Incubator into the OWASP Labs.

• Project Health Assessment: The Project Health Assessment is an optional process undertaken at the request of a project leader when he/she applies for Project Graduation The purpose of this assessment is to determine whether a project meets the minimum criteria of an OWASP Project outlined in the Project Health Assessment Criteria Document.

• Project Release: A project release refers to the final deliverable a project produces. It is the final product of the project.

• Project Deliverable/Release Review: The Project Deliverable/Release Review is an optional process undertaken at the request of a project leader using the Project Deliverable Review Form. The purpose of this process is to review a project’s progress, and to make sure the project is heading in the right direction based on the roadmap they provided at project inception.

OWASP Projects Processes

• Project Processes: The set of streamlined processes that exist to help projects move smoothly through the OWASP Project Lifecycle.

• Project Inception Process: The Project Inception Process is how a brand new idea becomes an OWASP Project. Such projects are labeled as OWASP Incubator projects. The process involves submitting the proposed project name, project leader information, project description, project roadmap, and selecting an appropriate open-source license for the project using the New Project Form on the Projects Portal.

• Project Donation Process: The Project Donation Process is used for a project that has an existing functional release, but is not currently associated with OWASP. This process is the primary mechanism by which individuals or organizations can transfer the ownership of their project’s copyright to OWASP.

• Project Transition Process: The Project Transition Process is used to transition leadership of a project to a new project leader. This is a simple automated process to transfer the relevant accounts, mailing lists, and other project resources to the new project leader.

• Project Abandonment Process: The Project Abandonment Process was put in place for those occasions in which a project leader is no longer able to manage their project, and has not been able to find a suitable replacement for the leader role. Project Abandonment can also occur when the project leader feels his/her project has become obsolete. Under these circumstances, the acting project leader is encourage do submit the Project Abandonment Form found in the Projects Portal.

• Incubator Graduation Process: The Incubator Graduation Process is an optional process undertaken at the request of a project leader using the Incubator Graduation Form. The purpose of this process is to move a project from the OWASP Incubator into the OWASP Labs.

Projects at Conferences

• AppSec Conferences: OWASP AppSec conferences bring together industry, government, security researchers, and practitioners to discuss the state of the art in application security. This series was launched in the United States in 2004 and Europe in 2005. Global AppSec conferences are held annually in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

• Open Source Showcase: The Open Source Showcase is an OWASP AppSec Conference event module designed to give Open Source project leaders the opportunity to demo their projects.

• OWASP Project Track: The OWASP Project Track is an OWASP AppSec Conference event module designed to give OWASP Project leaders the opportunity to showcase their projects as an official conference presenter.

OWASP Projects General

• OWASP Code of Ethics: The OWASP Code of Ethics are the set of guidelines and principles that the OWASP Foundation expects all of its members and conference attendees to abide by. A copy of the Code of Ethics can be found here in the OWASP About page.

Donate to OWASP Global Projects

OWASP Projects, a global division of the OWASP Foundation, is run under the same world wide not-for-profit charitable status as all the foundation strategic groups. OWASP provides a platform for contributors to share their work while providing them with the project and community support they need throughout their project development. All OWASP Projects are run by volunteers and they rely on personal donations and sponsorship to continue their development. Donate to OWASP Projects, and we promise to spend your money wisely on open source initiatives.

This is how your money can help:

• $20 could help us spread the word on the importance of open source initiatives in the Application Security industry.
• $100 could help fund OWASP project demos at major conferences.
• $250 could help get our volunteer Project Leaders to speaking engagements.