Contributing to Open Source DFIR

From time to time someone asks how do I contribute to Open Source DFIR. This page contains relevant tips and links from such conversations.

First determine a scope in which you want to contribute

Open Source DFIR is combination of multiple very broad topics. First try to determine a scope. If you are new to either open source or DFIR start we recommend to small, you and extend the scope at any point in time.

Some questions that could help in determining a scope to start with:

  • Any specific topics?

  • Any specific technologies?

  • Any tools/projects that you frequently use? What helps if you have ideas on how to improve these tools.

Specific topics or technologies

What helps is to find a topic or technology that you are passionate about, find interesting, or that is beneficial to your day-to-day work.

Consider:

Tools/projects that you frequently use

  • First learn as much as you can about the technologies the tools/project uses

  • Learn about the development and/or maintenance processes of a project

  • Learn about the contributors and/or community guidelines of a project

  • Learn about the open source licenses and/or agreements a project uses and if you are able to contribute

  • Reach out to the project maintainers to see what good starter projects are. It take a while to get to learn a code base.

Second determine how you want to contribute

Contribution by programming/software development

Programming and/or developing software you learn best by doing.

Contribution by testing

Contribution by research

Contribution by documentation

Contribution by supporting other users