Volunteer Developer Foils Sophisticated Hack of Critical Open Source Software

Developer Andres Freund discovered backdoor sabotage in open source software XZ Utils, likely planted by hacker Jia Tan posing as helpful volunteer
Discovery prevented major digital security crisis as backdoor could have provided access to millions of servers
Incident draws attention to safety of open source software relied upon by tech industry yet often maintained by just a few volunteers
Experts say sabotage was highly sophisticated, possibly by state-backed hackers aiming to secretly access systems
Freund's catch due to luck and coincidences; prompts calls to better incentivize tech companies to contribute back to open source projects