H.R.3286 - Securing Open Source Software Act of 2023

[Peeck]

Thought this might be mildly interesting for some. I put in General cause still tech related but please move it if needed.

 

The bill was introduced to the House so far. Curious what everyone thinks of it.

 

Here is the bill on the congress website

 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/3286/text?s=2&r=2

BILLS-118hr3286ih.pdf

 

[edit] [chatgpt tdlr]

• The bill aims to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to establish the duties of the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency regarding open source software security.
• It seeks to engage with the open source software community and coordinate with non-federal entities to bolster the security of open source software.
• The bill supports efforts to strengthen the security of open source software and encourages supply chain security measures.
• It requires the Director to develop a framework for assessing the risk of open source software components, incorporating government, private sector, and open source software community frameworks and best practices.
• The Director is tasked with conducting assessments of open source software components used by federal agencies, considering factors such as code security, development practices, vulnerabilities, deployment, and community health.
• Automation is emphasized to the greatest extent possible, and the Director is required to publish and maintain any tools developed for the assessment as open source software.
• The bill promotes sharing the assessment results with relevant federal and non-federal entities involved in open source software security.
• Collaboration and consultation with the National Cyber Director are required.
• Reporting requirements are included, and the bill clarifies that it does not grant additional regulatory authority to federal agencies.

Edited June 7 by Peeck

[dilpickle]

Can we get a tldr? 

[dilpickle]

If that summary is accurate it doesn't sound like much of anything. It just tells the DHS to make sure that OSS used by the government and private sector is secure. It sounds like the previous law didn't specifically mention OSS and this is meant to address that.

 

It's not going to let the government hack your Linux distro if that's what your thinking.