Microsoft is planning to open up it’s security practices for software development by shifting the licensing for its Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) documentation to the more accessible Creative Commons License. SDL is Microsoft’s plan for incorporating security into applications. It has been available in the past under an exclusive Microsoft license.
David Ladd was quoted as saying, “With this more flexible copyright model, developers can now copy, distribute, and transmit SDL documentation to others in the industry, which they were unable to do before. Microsoft hopes this more open licensing will encourage developers to build upon the SDL and incorporate security and privacy throughout software development lifecycle,” said David Ladd in an email.
Other SDL content will be analyzed and relicensed in the future.