Episode 271: Maintainer Month 2025 with Kade Morton on Cybersecurity

Guest Kade Morton Panelists Richard Littauer | Eriol Fox Show Notes
In this Maintainers Month episode of Sustain, host Richard Littauer
and co-host Eriol Fox talk with cybersecurity expert Kade Morton
from Arachne Digital. The conversation dives into how Kade’s
unconventional path through criminology and international relations
led him into cybersecurity and open source. They explore the unique
challenges of sustaining open source security tools, particularly
for human rights activists and under-resourced groups, the tension
between proprietary and open solutions, and how geopolitical
contexts and human motivations influence modern digital threat
landscapes. Hit download now to hear more! [00:01:41] Kade explains
his work is split between a day job working security operations and
a startup he runs called Arachne Digital. [00:02:51] Kade tells us
about his background, how he got into cybersecurity through
self-teaching and open source, and how his criminology and
international relations studies informed his interest in cyber
threats. [00:05:17] Kade discusses the open source projects he
maintains, specifically ‘Thread.’ [00:06:50] We learn about the
difficulty of getting others invested in better tools and Kade
discusses challenges explaining open source values to corporate
environments. [00:12:26] Richard asks whether closed-source
software is more secure and Kade highlights how most real world
exploits target proprietary software. [00:14:57] Eriol brings up
security perceptions in non-tech orgs using digital tools. Kade
shares how Arachne Digital offers free services to vetted human
rights orgs and he they discuss challenges balancing funding and
access in human rights cybersecurity. [00:19:17] Richard reflects
on monetization models for sustaining open source cybersecurity.
Kade explains his company avoids fear-based marketing and promotes
awareness instead. [00:22:40] Kade outlines how their
threat-informed defense model works. [00:25:42] Eriol asks what
changes could help improve open source sustainability. Kade
discusses feeling out of place in both government and open source
spaces and emphasizes cross-pollination between sectors to reduce
polarity. [00:28:29] Richard introduces the concept of “digital
sovereignty.” Kade warns of the risks of splintering the internet
through nationalism and advocates for a balanced middle ground
between centralization and fragmentation. [00:31:41] Kade shares
where you can find his work on the web. Quotes [00:13:44] “It’s
mostly proprietary software that’s being hacked.” [00:29:40] “The
internet is the world’s largest shared resource.” Spotlight
[00:32:56] Eriol’s spotlight is a repository called: The Design We
Open. [00:33:49] Richard’s spotlight is 1Password and Robin Riley.
[00:34:31 Kade’s spotlight is a shoutout to Mitre for TRAM and
Justin Seitz who wrote a blog post on a project called, Searx.
Links SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/) podcast@sustainoss.org
(mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org) richard@sustainoss.org
(mailto:richard@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS Discourse
(https://discourse.sustainoss.org/) SustainOSS Mastodon
(https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) SustainOSS Bluesky
(https://bsky.app/profile/sustainoss.bsky.social) SustainOSS
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/sustainoss/) Open
Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute)
(https://opencollective.com/sustainoss) Richard Littauer Socials
(https://www.burntfen.com/2023-05-30/socials) Eriol Fox GitHub
(https://erioldoesdesign.github.io/) Kade Morton LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/kade-morton-34179283/) Arachne Digital
(https://www.arachne.digital/) Arachne Digital LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/arachne-digital/) Arachne Digital
(Medium) (https://arachnedigital.medium.com/) Arachne Digital
(YouTube) (https://www.youtube.com/@Arachne_Digital) Arachne
Digital (Bluesky)
(https://bsky.app/profile/arachnedigital.bsky.social) Arachne
Digital (GitHub) (https://github.com/arachne-threat-intel/)
Thread-GitHub (https://github.com/arachne-threat-intel/thread) The
National Digital Forum (NDF) (https://www.ndf.org.nz/) The New
Design Congress (https://newdesigncongress.org/en/) Open Technology
Fund -Security Lab (https://www.opentech.fund/labs/security-lab/)
The Design We Open (GitHub)
(https://github.com/sprblm/The-Design-We-Open) 1Password
(https://1password.com/) TRAM
(https://github.com/mitre-attack/tram) Searx
(https://github.com/searx/searx) Credits Produced by Richard
Littauer (https://www.burntfen.com/) Edited by Paul M. Bahr at
Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by
DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/)
Special Guest: Kade Morton.