X World 2026
25-26 AUGUST • NAARM | MELBOURNE
Workbrew: Defending The Open Source Supply Chain
Homebrew, the app store for developers and one of the most active projects in the history of GitHub, is used on over 35 million developer endpoints. Thanks to the AI boom that number is growing faster than ever. But Homebrew, and open source in general, are under attack. In 2025 open source supply chain attacks were up 73% year over year, and 2026 is making 2025 look like the warmup lap. Open source software is the backbone of the modern tech industry and trillions of dollars of economic activity depend on it. We can't afford to lose its force multiplying effect. But security and compliance teams are worried, with good reason, about how much longer we can continue to trust it. At Workbrew we've built the missing compliance and security stack for Homebrew, and much more. I want to show you first hand what we're doing to fight back against open source supply chain security, and why so many Enterprises around the globe are turning to us in the face of growing mistrust of open source.
About the presenter
Brandon Valentine began his career in 2000 as a systems administrator managing large-scale fleets, quickly becoming an active contributor to open source package managers. Over the years, he expanded his expertise to include Ruby development, consulting, and professional sales. A devoted Homebrew contributor and enthusiast, Brandon spent five impactful years at GitHub before joining Workbrew, where he is focused on customer success and reconnecting with his systems administration roots.
Interview
We asked Brandon a few questions about where Apple's heading and what he's working on.
What are you most excited about in Apple's upcoming OS releases?
ManagedApp framework finally comes to macOS! I can't wait for vendors to catch up and implement it.
Is there new hardware you're hoping Apple ships?
I am a huge cyclist and I have reluctantly adopted Meta's AI glasses for use on the bike. The built-in headphones give me music without compromising my ability to hear traffic, and a camera I can use without taking my hands off the bars is a huge advantage. I just wish Apple made that hardware and integrated it into their ecosystem.
The rise of AI: excited, scared, intrigued, or something else?
Don't believe the hype. Can it be valuable? Sure. Is it delivering the kind of value that justifies the immense cost? Not yet.
What's the best thing you've built that nobody's heard of?
I once worked on a very early Google Goggles style application to index and search wine bottle labels. It involved building a custom distributed database in C to do K-nearest neighbor image search in near real-time. The startup I built it for went under before it saw the light of day and now an application called Vivino exists and serves the same market we were going after.
What do you wish you'd known when you started building admin tools for Apple platforms?
I wish I'd known more about the changes coming to the device management world, as I would have been ahead of the curve on those fronts, but we're catching up quickly.
Finish this sentence: "You should come to my talk if…"
...you care about how to secure the open source software that runs your company.
