OpenSSF welcomes Target, Thread AI & OSTIF to boost security
The Open Source Security Foundation has expanded its membership, adding Target and Thread AI as general members, while the Open Source Technology Improvement Fund (OSTIF) has upgraded its status to general member. This comes at a time of ongoing efforts to bolster digital security practices across the open source software ecosystem.
Membership additions
Target, one of the largest retailers in North America, has joined the foundation to focus on heightening security within retail technology. The company views membership as a deepening of its ongoing involvement in securing open source initiatives.
"Modern businesses run on open source software, driving trillions in estimated global value. OpenSSF is a role model for collaboration on open source software, standards, and data. By joining OpenSSF, Target reaffirms its support for the critical infrastructure, governance models, and neutral collaboration space the foundation provides," said Brian Muenzenmeyer, Principal Engineer, Enablement, Open Source Programme Office, Target.
Thread AI, specialising in composable AI infrastructure, is also joining as a general member. This step is seen as significant against the growing need for security in artificial intelligence and agentic workflow platforms.
"Open source security has been essential to our foundation. We are extremely excited about our partnership to help drive the next frontier of secure agentic workflows," said Mayada Gonimah, Co-founder and CTO, Thread AI.
The OSTIF, which has supported more than 150 open source projects in improving their security posture, has transitioned from associate to general member. This upgrade provides OSTIF with an enhanced role in the security foundation's projects and initiatives.
"OSTIF joined OpenSSF shortly after the Foundation was formed, largely due to our close strategic relationship and working partnership with the Linux Foundation, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, LF Energy, and the Academy Software Foundation. OSTIF upgraded to general membership to demonstrate a commitment to the continued collaborations between our organizations, and be able to provide more direct value to the OpenSSF and its members," said Amir Montazery, Managing Director, OSTIF.
Award recognition
The foundation has also named recipients of its quarterly Golden Egg Awards. Honorees include Sarah Evans (Dell Technologies) for leadership in AI/ML security groups, Justin Cappos (NYU) for his work on security tooling and academic collaboration, Patrick Zielinski (NYU) for software supply chain improvements, Evan Anderson for secure-by-default supply chain practices, and Brandt Keller (Defence Unicorns) for efforts in community development and deployment security.
Recent initiatives
Over the past quarter, the foundation has delivered new resources and tools targeted at strengthening open source software security. Key outputs include guidance for developers on safe use of AI code assistants, a free course on secure AI and ML driven software development, and a comprehensive security audit of the OpenSSF Scorecard tool. Updates to the Model Signing release, expanded software bill of materials (SBOM) resources, and collaborative commitments for sustainable infrastructure have also been introduced.
Community engagement
The period saw targeted policy engagement and outreach in Europe, with activities in Belgium and collaboration with European open source and policy groups. The foundation has held events to bring together stakeholders in the fields of finance, artificial intelligence, and security to address sector-specific risks in open source adoption.
The group estimates that open source software underpins nearly 96% of codebases in modern technology, a statistic that continues to drive industry commitment to improved security practices.
