OWASP Summer of Code 2008 Press Release

Work in Progress - Not for Immediate Release
London, United Kingdom, March 1, 2008 

OWASP Summer of Code 2008 - Sponsorship Initiative and Membership Drive
 * The OWASP Summer of Code 2007 (SoC 08) aims to financially sponsor contributions to OWASP Projects. SoC 08 follows the previous OWASP Spring of Code 2007, in which 21 projects were sponsored with a budget of $117,500, and the OWASP Autumn of Code 2006, in which 9 projects were sponsored with a budget of $20,000.


 * SoC 08 is an open sponsorship program were participants/developers are paid to work on OWASP (and web security) related projects.


 * The SoC 08 is also an opportunity for external individual or company sponsors to challenge the participants/developers to work in areas in which they are willing to invest additional funding, provided that these areas are relevant and beneficial to the OWASP community.


 * The initial Budget for SoC 08 will be $10,000 USD, and it is funded by OWASP using current membership fees and profits from past conferences. In parallel with the Request for Proposals, OWASP would like to invite individuals and companies that benefit from OWASP projects to join OWASP as a member. In addition to the current Membership benefits, the new OWASP members will be able to allocate membership fees to SoC 08 projects they are interested in (for example SPI Dynamics is sponsoring the OWASP SiteGenerator project).


 * There are no geographical, age or any other form of restrictions to who can apply for an "OWASP SoC of Code 2008" sponsorship. The only requirement is that the candidate shows the potential to accomplish the project's objectives and the commitment to dedicate the time required to complete it in the allocated time frame (projects must be completed by 30th July 2008).


 * Prospective candidates should visit SoC 08 page for more information.

Schedule
 * 1st March – SoC 2008 season of code is officially launched. Start date for submitting applications.
 * 25th March - Deadline for project applications.
 * 2nd April – Publishing of selected applications and start of SoC 08 projects.
 * 30th May - Participants to report on project status.
 * 30th July - SoC 08 project completion. Participants should deliver final project report.

Contacts
 * The "OWASP SoC of Code 2008" project leader [mailto:Dinis.Cruz@owasp.org Dinis Cruz] and project manager [mailto:paulocoimbra7@gmail.com Paulo Coimbra], both based in London - UK, can be contacted for further details.

About OWASP

The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to enabling organizations to develop, purchase, and maintain applications that can be trusted. OWASP's open source projects and local chapters produce free, unbiased, open-source documentation and tools. The OWASP community also facilitates conferences, local chapters, papers, presentations, and mailing lists. More information can be found at OWASP