Difference between revisions of "About The Open Web Application Security Project"

Revision as of 23:05, 7 February 2011

The OWASP Foundation

The OWASP Foundation came online on December 1st 2001 it was established as a not-for-profit charitable organization in the United States on April 21, 2004 to ensure the ongoing availability and support for our work at OWASP. OWASP is an international organization and the OWASP Foundation supports OWASP efforts around the world. OWASP is an open community dedicated to enabling organizations to conceive, develop, acquire, operate, and maintain applications that can be trusted. All of the OWASP tools, documents, forums, and chapters are free and open to anyone interested in improving application security. We advocate approaching application security as a people, process, and technology problem because the most effective approaches to application security include improvements in all of these areas. We can be found at www.owasp.org.

OWASP is a new kind of organization. Our freedom from commercial pressures allows us to provide unbiased, practical, cost-effective information about application security. OWASP is not affiliated with any technology company, although we support the informed use of commercial security technology. Similar to many open-source software projects, OWASP produces many types of materials in a collaborative, open way. The OWASP Foundation is a not-for-profit entity that ensures the project's long-term success. OWASP ByLaws

Citations

OWASP and its materials are used, recommended and referenced by many government, standards and industry organisations. We maintain a list of some of the more important citations on the Industry:Citations page.

Code of Ethics

Each of us is expected to behave according to the principles contained in the following Code of Ethics. Breaches of the Code of Ethics may result in the foundation taking disciplinary action.

• Perform all professional activities and duties in accordance with all applicable laws and the highest ethical principles;
• Promote the implementation of and promote compliance with standards, procedures, controls for application security;
• Maintain appropriate confidentiality of proprietary or otherwise sensitive information encountered in the course of professional activities;
• Discharge professional responsibilities with diligence and honesty;
• To communicate openly and honestly;
• Refrain from any activities which might constitute a conflict of interest or otherwise damage the reputation of employers, the information security profession, or the Association;
• To maintain and affirm our objectivity and independence;
• To reject inappropriate pressure from industry or others;
• Not intentionally injure or impugn the professional reputation of practice of colleagues, clients, or employers;
• Treat everyone with respect and dignity; and
• To avoid relationships that impair — or may appear to impair — OWASP's objectivity and independence.

Principles

• Free & Open
• Governed by rough consensus & running code
• Abide by a code of ethics (see ethics)
• Not-for-profit
• Not driven by commercial interests
• Risk based approach

Tax Status: 501(c)(3) Not-For-Profit Organization

The OWASP Foundation is a U.S. recognized 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization. The OWASP Foundation received its formal recognition by the U.S. government of its 501(c)(3) status on December 10, 2004. This not-for-proft status allows contributors to deduct any donations made to the OWASP Foundation.

Tax Deductability of Payments to OWASP

OWASP membership fees, OWASP conferences fees, OWASP conference sponsorships, and OWASP banner ads are not considered tax-deductible donations due to the benefits the paying organization/individual receives.

Direct donations to OWASP are fully tax-deductible given OWASP's recognized U.S. not-for-profit status.

OWASP's U.S. Employer Identification Number (EIN) is: 20-0963503.

Membership or Donations

If you are interested in joining OWASP as a member, or donating funds for OWASP's efforts, please check out the OWASP Membership Page.

Contacting OWASP

The easiest way to contact the OWASP Foundation is via e-mail. If you have a question concerning a particular project, we strongly recommend using the mailing list for that project. Many questions can also be answered by searching the OWASP web site, so please check there first!

Our address for general correspondence and faxes can be sent to our physical office address, to the attention of Kate Hartmann, at:

 OWASP Foundation
 9175 Guilford Road Suite #300
 Columbia, MD 21046
 301-275-9403 (phone)
 301-604-8033 (fax)
 Submit a Inquiry

Global Board Members

Governed by 100% volunteer members with dedicated volunteerism to ensure the mission of OWASP "to make application security visible so that people and organizations can make informed decisions about application security risks"

Jeff Williams - Board Member and Chair
jeff.williams(at)owasp.org

Dinis Cruz - Board Member
dinis.cruz(at)owasp.org

Dave Wichers - Board Member
dave.wichers(at)owasp.org

Tom Brennan - Board Member
tom.brennan(at)owasp.org

Sebastien Deleersnyder - Board Member
seba(at)owasp.org

Eoin Keary - Board Member
eoin(at)owasp.org

Matt Tesauro - Board Member
matt.tesauro(at)owasp.org

Board Meeting Minutes

Board meeting minutes for the record.

Global Committee Structure

OWASP recognized the extraordinary contribution of our most active leaders by engaging them to lead a set of six new committees. Each democratically established committee will focus on a key function or geographic region, such as OWASP projects, conferences, local chapters, membership and industry outreach.

Employees of the OWASP Foundation

Kate Hartmann - Kate's Role w/OWASP
OWASP Operations Director
Kate Hartmann

Paulo Coimbra Paulo's Role w/OWASP
OWASP Project Manager
Paulo Combra

Alison Shrader - Alison's Role w/OWASP
OWASP Accounting
Alison Shrader

Volunteer Support

Director of Information Technology
Larry Casey

Licensing

All OWASP materials are available under an approved FLOSS license. For more information, please see the OWASP Licenses page.

Participation and Membership

Everyone is welcome to participate in our forums, projects, chapters, and conferences. OWASP is a fantastic place to learn about application security, to network, and even to build your reputation as an expert.

If you find the OWASP materials valuable, please consider supporting our cause by becoming an OWASP member. All monies received by the OWASP Foundation go directly into supporting OWASP projects.

For more information, please see the Membership page.

Projects

OWASP's projects cover many aspects of application security. We build documents, tools, teaching environments, guidelines, checklists, and other materials to help organizations improve their capability to produce secure code.

For details on all the OWASP projects, please see the OWASP Project page.

Privacy Policy

Given OWASP’s mission to help organizations with application security, you have the right to expect protection of any personal information that we might collect about our members.

In general, we do not require authentication or ask visitors to reveal personal information when visiting our website. We collect Internet addresses, not the e-mail addresses, of visitors solely for use in calculating various website statistics.

We may ask for certain personal information, including name and email address from persons downloading OWASP products. This information is not divulged to any third party and is used only for the purposes of:

• Communicating urgent fixes in the OWASP Materials
• Seeking advice and feedback about OWASP Materials
• Inviting participation in OWASP’s consensus process and AppSec conferences

OWASP publishes a list of member organizations and individual members. Listing is purely voluntary and "opt-in." Listed members can request not to be listed at any time.

All information about you or your organization that you send us by fax or mail is physically protected. If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy policy, please contact us at [email protected].

Tax Filings

Click here to get a copy of our 2005 Tax Return.

Click here to get a copy of our 2006 Tax Return.

Click here to get a copy of our 2007 Tax Return and Audit Report.

Click here to get a copy of our 2008 Tax Return.

Click here to get a copy of our 2009 Tax Return.

For more information, please see the pages listed below:

• Contact for names, phone numbers and roles of the OWASP Foundation
• Contributions for details about how to make contributions
• Advertising if you're interested in advertising on the OWASP site
• How OWASP Works for more information about projects and governance
• OWASP brand usage rules for information about using the OWASP brand