Interest in ISO 27001 audit/certification for the Debian Project?
TL;DR: Does Debian (via SPI) have plans or interest in pursuing ISO 27001
certification for its development, maintenance, and operations? This
could bolster assurance for users amid supply chain risks.
Dear Debian Developers,
In an era of rising supply chain attacks (e.g., XZ Utils), downstream
users increasingly scrutinize the security of packaged software and of
the processes involved in their generation and maintenance. Debian not
only distributes an open source (non-commercial) product to the public
but also provides critical services to its developer community via the
project's IT infrastructure.
To strengthen and document their security posture, many of Debian's
peers undergo regular audits. ISO 27001 - a leading framework for
information security management systems (ISMS) - helps assess risks,
formalize controls and policies, and align internal processes with
relevant best practices. Examples include:
* Canonical:
https://canonical.com/blog/canonical-achieves-iso-27001-certification
Quote from Canonical: "The certification demonstrates alignment with
cybersecurity standards that will further safeguard open source products
and services for use in the most demanding enterprise environments."
* Red Hat:
https://access.redhat.com/compliance/isoiec-27001 - Covers key offerings
like OpenShift.
* SUSE:
https://www.suse.com/support/security/certifications/ – Their global
operations under ISO 27001.
* For contrast, Let's Encrypt:
It's not a legal entity (instead, it's an operation under the non-profit
corporation ISRG) and it lacks ISO 27001 certification, but meets annual
WebTrust audits required for publicly recognized CAs.
Debian, while not a legal entity, sits under SPI's non-profit corporate
umbrella, and ISO 27001 can scope to specific operations (per Clause
4.3). Therefore, certification could be issued to SPI but scoped to only
target Debian's development, maintenance, and operations.
Does the Debian Project have plans or interest in auditing/certifying
to ISO 27001? If not, are there alternative frameworks (e.g., SOC 2)
under consideration? I'd be happy to know.
--
Farruco.
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