Modern software is built on the backs of low-paid maintainers, opening the door to potential threats

Modern computing systems and devices typically require pieces of crucial open-source software, typically maintained by unpaid or low-paid volunteers. Recently, a report collated a list of critical open-source projects, noting which of them are chronically underfunded and/or understaffed. The information is sobering: 11 out of 23 of the listed projects currently only have one or two maintainers, and funding is generally scarce and sometimes nonexistent.

The Data Drop's report on open-source maintainers identifies that having only one or two sets of eyes on critical pieces of software means that sooner or later something breaks — and it tends to do so in spectacular fashion, given its ubiquity. So, what happens when these projects, which are widely used across software, go underfunded or understaffed?

In 2014, the same year as Heartbleed, Shellshock made waves: a vulnerability in the Bash shell that's present in Linux, macOS, and Unix-type systems. …