Kendra Ash

Open source security software can offer high value: transparency, cost-effectiveness, smoother audits, and collaborative contributions ensure the continued evolution of tools. Modern security teams have lower headcount and smaller budgets, and competing priorities. Open source software can close gaps when there are no other options.. Even with the right team size, budget, and vendor provided options you may still want to choose OSS. This talk will cover why the adoption of the community-built security tools can significantly benefit your organization. We’ll highlight some of tried and true open source tools and how to start incorporating open source security tools into your organization. Leveraging open source in security programs is crucial for scaling the company whether you're small, or big, it enables you or your team to scale and have impact immediately. Contributing back to open source or releasing internally built tools to the community allows your team members to build a brand for themselves outside the company, invest more in their tools knowing they could easily leverage them at the next company. As a community, widespread use of common open source tools fosters collaborative efforts to build and enhance tooling collectively. Increased adoption streamlines audits, especially when multiple companies employ the same tools for the same controls.