Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Application Security

Rust Gets a Dedicated Security Team

The non-profit Rust Foundation has scored funding to build a dedicated security team to proactively identify and address security defects in the popular Rust programming language.

The non-profit Rust Foundation has scored funding to build a dedicated security team to proactively identify and address security defects in the popular Rust programming language.

The Foundation said the new team will be funded by investments from the OpenSSF’s Alpha-Omega Initiative and software supply chain security firm Jfrog and will immediately work on a security audit and threat modeling to measure the economics of securing Rust.

“The first initiative for the new Security Team will be to undertake a security audit and threat modeling exercises to identify how security can be economically maintained going forward. The team will also help advocate for security practices across the Rust landscape, including Cargo and Crates.io, and will be a resource for the maintainer community,” the Foundation said in a statement.

The OpenSSF Alpha-Omega Project is an ambitious effort aimed at tackling open source software security through direct engagement of software security experts and automated security testing.  The Project is funded collectively by Microsoft and Google.

“There’s often a misperception that because Rust ensures memory safety that it’s one hundred percent secure, but Rust can be vulnerable just like any other language and warrants proactive measures to protect and sustain it and the community,” said Bec Rumbul, Executive Director at the Rust Foundation. 

[ READ: Cost of Sandboxing Prompts Shift to Memory-Safe Languages. Too Late? ]

Rumbul said the new Rust Foundation Security Team will be able to support the broader Rust community with the highest-level of security talent and help ensure the reliability of Rust for software developers around the world.

Of course, this is just a start. We hope to continue to build out the team in the coming months and years,” Rumbul added.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Separately, maintainers of the Go programming language have announced new support for vulnerability management as a first step towards helping Go developers learn about known vulnerabilities that may affect them.

The Go initiative includes a vulnerability database and a new govulncheck tool that offers a low-noise, reliable way for Go users to learn about known vulnerabilities that may affect their projects. Govulncheck analyzes codebases and only flags vulnerabilities with impact based on which functions in the code are transitively calling vulnerable functions. 

Related: Cost of Sandboxing Prompts Shift to Memory-Safe Languages. Too Late?

Related: Google Working on Improving Memory Safety in Chrome

Related: Microsoft Launches JIT-Free ‘Super Duper Secure Mode’ Edge Browser

Related: OpenSSF Alpha-Omega Project Tackles Supply Chain Security

Written By

Ryan Naraine is Editor-at-Large at SecurityWeek and host of the popular Security Conversations podcast series. He is a security community engagement expert who has built programs at major global brands, including Intel Corp., Bishop Fox and GReAT. Ryan is a founding-director of the Security Tinkerers non-profit, an advisor to early-stage entrepreneurs, and a regular speaker at security conferences around the world.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Learn how the LOtL threat landscape has evolved, why traditional endpoint hardening methods fall short, and how adaptive, user-aware approaches can reduce risk.

Watch Now

Join the summit to explore critical threats to public cloud infrastructure, APIs, and identity systems through discussions, case studies, and insights into emerging technologies like AI and LLMs.

Register

People on the Move

Cloud security startup Upwind has appointed Rinki Sethi as Chief Security Officer.

SAP security firm SecurityBridge announced the appointment of Roman Schubiger as the company’s new CRO.

Cybersecurity training and simulations provider SimSpace has appointed Peter Lee as Chief Executive Officer.

More People On The Move

Expert Insights

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest cybersecurity news, threats, and expert insights. Unsubscribe at any time.