1. Barriers in using Open Source in a High Assurance Environment
Edwin Lee
Software Architect, Raytheon Company
The Open Group Conference
10/18/2005

2. Observations from prior meetings
Open Source software is
Useful, capable, readily available
Offers programmer choices & freedom of use
“Power to the edge” for the software community
Open source community and users were
Not very familiar with the High Assurance Environment
Not familiar with Information Security (IS) from DoD standpoint
Not familiar with IS Certification and Accreditation process
Even customers’ views are not always consistent
Some customers embraced Open Source
Some customers rejected Open Source

3. What are the barriers ? The biggest barrier is the lack of TRUST
Which translates to unknown Risk
Risk = Probability of Occurrence x Consequence
In a High Assurance Environment, Consequence could mean lost of lives
Lack of trust means Probability of Occurrence is unknown
Unknown
risk

4. Trust Mechanisms
Independent, traceable Evaluation of a product performed by TRUSTED entities
Example: Common Criteria Evaluation
Certification and Accreditation of a System before it is deployed, to meet “Protection Levels”, or Safety Standards
Example: Protection Levels specified in DCID/6.3
DO-178B Certification activities for Safety Critical Systems
A Process to be follows during software development to ensure trustworthiness
Example: DITSCAP (Defense Information Technology Certification and Accreditation Process)

5. Can the Open Source community offer similar trust mechanism?
What kind of evalauation mechanism is reasonable to ask for?
Security critical
Safety critical
What types of software need it?
Deployable code
Development Tool (IDE, compiler, etc..)
Code generator
How would pay for the evaluation or certification process?
How should be the evaluation body? (TOG?)