Global Initiatives/Cyber Security Pre-accelerator Initiative

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OWASP Cyber Security Startup Initiative
This initiative seeks to catalyse innovation in application security by promoting the use of open source such as OWASP testing tools, technical documentation, training modules within the start-up community in the context of incubation of a possible startup and putting entrepreneur-lead teams in a roadmap for the creation of possible application security start-ups.

The main outcome of this initiative is the creation of documentation manuals for running an incubator/acceleration program for security start-ups and piloting data collected based upon experience in running a pilot of this program. The intended target of this material are organisations such as academic institutions, government entities and commercial founded start-up initiatives that seek to establish an security start-up incubator program (also referred as company accelerator or innovation campus) for companies focusing in application security.

This initiative will focus on the pre-incubator phase that is the preliminary phase that leads to incubation of a possible startup. This is the phase where talent is nurtured and ideas are developed, validated and tested in order to get to a Proof of Concepts PoCs stage with working software tools/prototypes. These PoCs might go on to be funded by non-profit (e.g. academics) and for profit entities (e.g. vendors) and validated by the open source community. At a later stage some of these validated PoC might help the pre-incubator teams to seek funding for a security start up can create an opportunity for employment in the application security industry.

Goals
The goal of the pre-incubator is to create opportunities for entrapenue-lead teams to transform ideas into validated concepts and onto POC (proof of concept) prototypes. To pursuit innovative ideas and development of (PoCs) Proof of Concepts of web and mobile applications that use both OWASP open source tools as well as commercial APIs. The pre-incubator will offer a structured place to work to pre-incubate ideas into working prototypes using OWASP funded projects with backing of corporate sponsorship also provided through OWASP. These POCs will be released to the open source community for validation and use as a free resource.

Benefits to OWASP
The OWASP pre-incubator security start-up project empowers OWASP to leverage academic institutions and corporate sponsors to promote projects for the development of open source tools, improve visibility to application security and foster the creation of team of software developers interested in experimenting with OWASP open source tools for the creation of new software products. By spearheading the incubation of new software prototypes OWASP will create the opportunity for software developers, software and application security testers and consultants to become self-sufficient in supporting the further development of software and services as a security start-up. These security start-ups will have the opportunity to leverage OWASP resources for their security consulting, application security training and secure software development services in full respect of legal agreements for the use of open source licenses when these are used in their commercial services or products.

OWASP won’t be involved in the creation of the start-up but in the funding and mentoring support of the creation of open source projects that are delivered by the teams enrolled in the pre-incubator start-up program. OWASP through his local chapters will provide in-person mentoring to help mature the PoC from pre-incubation phase to incubation based by providing connections to seek funds for incubate start-ups whose business plan include either the use of open source for their consulting services or further development of products that use open source libraries


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Presentation Materials
Presentation

Initiative Leader
Neill Gernon Marco Morana

Mailing List

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= News and Events =

Starting point/To date Neill Gernon and Marco Morana have worked up to this point on: -Startup community engagement> Meetings with London startup hubs including Level39 (Europes largest accelerator space), IDEALondon and universitys like Kings University where Marco spoke about the programme with thier security leaders. Also had meetings inside Google Campus London, Tech Hub and Central Working. -Programme planning> Designing the programme which has taken inspiration from lean prototyping workshops that Neill Gernon runs in London and Dublin startup clusters. Planning stages also included engaging with owasp staff including Samantha Groves, Kelly Santalucia and GK Southwick to conclude that this should be submitted and structured as an initiative. -Coordinating owasp meetings: Meetings with owasp chapter leaders including Tobias Gondrom, Justin Clarke and Marco Morana.

Thursday, 24th April - Meeting. Meeting (conference call) between Neill Gernon & Marco Morana concluded the following: -Speakers/Mentors> (a) Will will be looking to confirm speakers for the first kick off event (mid May). At this kick off event Neill Gernon & Marco Morana will talk on the programme format and the benifits to participants - this is an overview of the programme and a chance for all interested to come together and connect pre- initiative launch. Also to answer any questions attendees have before beginning. (b) Will be looking to confirm mentors for the pre-accelerator programme. These mentors will commit to specific calander dates to give team advisory, product validation, people mentorship and guidance through out the initiative. -Calander> Now we have a chosen starting point (kick off event by the 22nd May in London), we will be outlining the calander timeline of events, workshops and hackathon dates/times. *This initiative schedule will be updated to the wiki soon* -Sponsor details: Waiting to get confirmation from sponsors on how they wish to support initiative and owasp -How to continuously update the wiki for future updates and initiative news.

Kick off event date, sponsor details, speakers and mentor confirmation will be following this meeting.

Friday 9th May - Update on sponsor signup Created a quick "google form" along with a new presentation to get sponsors signed up to the initiative. Confirmation of dates and venue pending and subject to sponsor commitment due to venue expenses. Potential sponsors have been two options: 1. join owasp membership and a % goes toward the initiative 2. sponsor initiative direct Google form found [here> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hg3xqM3fHKDda0WshTEC7UTzK4nwcr1j6H79mHXSBoQ/viewform .]

Additional updates> 1. Wednesday meeting with Marco Moran confirmed to discuss initiative progress, venue, dates and sponsor confirmation. 2. Monday - Meeting with IDEALondon to discuss venue and initiative start dates 3. Monday - Meeting with a London university to propose initiative sponsorship

= Milestones =

Milestones and Goals

The OWASP pre-incubator security start-up project includes the following milestones;

1) OWASP Security start-up pre-incubator process guide that document the process the WHAT that is a guide that can be followed by a non-profit entity such as OWASP, University, and Government Agency to run a security start-up pre-incubator program. We will document all steps of the process that can be followed to create pre seed funding security start-ups which can be replicated by following this program including the different stages that lead from opportunity to idea concept to creation of the open source prototype to the start-ups itself. The guide provide guidance on the goals of the various activities such as events, prototyping workshops and hackathons (e.g. goal is to experiment with OWASP open source tools, templates for the development of working prototypes) create and sign legal contract agreements, creation and validation of PoCs Proof of Concepts.

2) OWASP Security start-up pre-incubator process manual that teaches the HOW that is how to engage with the start-up community locally (start), organize events, workshops, hackathons, mentoring and prepare business plans for participation to security incubators start-ups (end);

3) OWASP Security start-up pre-incubator wiki site to manage the steps of the startup security pre accelerator process and document the proof of concept prototypes that can go on to be fully incubated start-ups; This wiki site will be created as OWASP pre-accelerator web site and will help it to be taken forward and used by OWASP chapters in different areas/countries.

4) Documented results of piloting with a start-up pre-incubator real case that includes using the process guide the manual the wiki site to run a real case of pre-incubator program by running it at one of the established start up campuses in London pending on availability and agreements.

5) OWASP open source working software prototype/PoCof an open source application security software/technology. This prototype/PoC is produced by following the￼￼￼￼￼￼several steps of the pre-accelerator security incubator program and is produced by the initiative participants as residents in the pre-accelerator working space and validated by the open source community. The scope of the prototype is to validate a proof of concept of a new idea that makes either web or mobile applications more secure. This prototype is released as open source to the community.

=How to Get involved=

Signup to our mailing list, updates coming soon! Mail list> https://lists.owasp.org/mailman/listinfo/owasp_cyber_security_pre-accelerator_initiative