The OWASP Summer of Code 2008 (SoC 2008) aims to financially sponsor contributions to OWASP Projects. SoC 2008 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.

The SoC 2008 is an open sponsorship program were participants/developers are paid to work on OWASP (and web security) related projects.

The SoC 2008 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 2008 will be $100,000 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 2008 projects they are interested in.

There is no geographical, age or any other form of restrictions to who can apply for an "OWASP Summer 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 August 2008).

Prospective candidates should visit SoC 2008 page for more information.

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 2008 projects.

30th May - Participants to report on project status.

30th August - SoC 2008 project completion. Participants should deliver final project report.

The OWASP Summer of Code 2008 Project Leader Dinis Cruz and the Project Manager Paulo Coimbra, both based in London - UK, can be contacted for further details.

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.