The Linux Foundation said today it’s hosting an initiative called the seL4 Foundation, a nonprofit organization that’s behind the development of the seL4 microkernel that aims to ensure the reliability, safety and security of critical computer systems.

The seL4 Foundation was founded by Data61, which is the digital research arm of Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

The seL4 microkernel is essentially an operating system with proven security that helps to protect critical computing systems from cyberattacks. It offers safeguards including “proof of implementation correctness” that help to make it an ideal base for building secure systems, the foundation said.

Those safeguards are said to be of big interest to industries such as avionics, autonomous vehicles, medical device manufacturing, critical infrastructure and defense.

“In system security, seL4 is one-of-a-kind,” said John Launchbury of Galois Inc., who’s a former DARPA I2O director. “COVID-19 has taught us all the value of “distancing” in keeping any kind of system healthy and secure. That’s what microkernels like seL4 do for software. What makes seL4 unique is that we know with mathematical certainty that the seL4 code implements its distancing specification with ZERO functionality bugs. That it does so without a performance hit is doubly astonishing.”

As for the seL4 foundation, this will serve as a forum for developers to collaborate on developing the sel4 microkernel.

“The Linux Foundation will support the seL4 Foundation and community by providing expertise and services to increase community engagement, contributors and adopters, helping to take the OS ecosystem to the next level,” said Michael Dolan, vice president of strategic programs at the Linux Foundation. “The open governance and standards-based model will provide a neutral, mature and trustworthy framework to help advance an operating system that is readily deployable and optimized for security.”

The seL4 Foundation, whose other founding members include UNSW Sydney, HENSOLDT Cyber GmbH, Ghost Locomotion Inc, Cog Systems, Inc, and DornerWorks Ltd., will work to accelerate the commercial development of seL4.

Image: geralt/Pixabay