In the last month, the U.S. Federal Government, through its DOGE program, has cut funding for the MITRE corporation’s CVE project and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which provides funding to the Internet Archive through a grant program. So why does this matter?
The MITRE corporation’s CVE project
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) provides a reference method for publicly known information security vulnerabilities and exposures. These CVE’s are rated 1-10, with 10 being the highest. When a vulnerability is found and reported to the CVE program, it is given a rating, and researchers and developers instantly know the severity of the issue and how much to prioritise its fix. In 2021, the Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228) was given a 10 out of 10 rating, which told every researcher and developer that this issue was a top priority to fix. Without the CVE program, the Log4Shell vulnerability would have left a zero-day vulnerability in the Apache Log4j library. This vulnerability allowed remote code execution and could be exploited through any entry point that permits data entry from external users, such as input fields or login forms.
This is just one example of thousands that we, the general public, never hear about. While the CVE program is not directly aimed at the general public, its work does affect our everyday lives. The CVE program ensures that the products and services we’ve come to depend on remain safe and secure.
The Internet Archive.
The Internet Archive is what it sounds like, an archive of the internet, but it’s so much more. They archive audio, images, books, art, NASA images, maps, film, educational material, software, and occasionally physical items.
Website archiving is not only fun to look at through their Wayback Machine feature, but it also serves to hold people accountable. If a person says they never wrote something (and has since deleted the content), you can find that deleted content via the Internet Archive. I actually submit some of my posts to the archive to prove publication date in case there are ever any issues that arise from any of my posts, not that I see any issues, but better safe than sorry.
Audio, images, books, art, NASA images, maps, and film & TV can all be used for research purposes. Software archives can also be used for research purposes, let’s say a 9.8 CVE is issued, and researchers need an older version of the code to patch the current bad code. They can go to the Internet Archive and download the code they need, then fix the issue. And when it comes to physical items, if you have an aging piece of equipment and they have a copy, and you need to inspect it to figure out how to repair yours, then you can ask them to help you.
Serving important roles
Both the CVE program and the Internet Archive serve an important role, both separately and together. Their combined existence has, without most of the population even knowing it, improved our lives and helped protect us in ways we may never know about.
The MITRE Corporation has recently set up a nonprofit to fund its work outside of government funding. The Internet Archive has always been a nonprofit and gladly accepts the public’s donations.
The CVE Foundation does not currently have a public-facing donation page, but you are able to email them to find ways to support them. I would recommend that organizations email them to find out how they can become partners and assist in their ongoing mission to protect the internet.
LINK to their FAQs and the email to officer assistance.
The Internet Archive does have a public-facing donation page, and I recommend everyone go there and donate. Even if you only do a one-time donation, it helps. But if you really want to help, you can set up a recurring donation for as little as $10 per month.
LINK to the Internet Archive donation page.
Conclusion
The CVE program and the Internet Archive are valuable services that, while they operate in the background, are invaluable to our daily lives in our digital age. We must do everything we can to ensure their continued existence.