The Rise in SBOM Adoption and How They Can Effectively Improve Software Supply Chain Security Programs

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Software supply chain security has become a critical concern for organizations across industries due to the increasing complexity and dynamic nature of the software supply chain. To address this challenge, organizations have turned to leveraging software bill of materials (SBOMs), which are standardized inventories of software components used in a particular product or system. SBOMs provide transparency and visibility into the software supply chain, and they can be an effective approach for identifying and mitigating security risks, compliance issues, and operational challenges.

The adoption of SBOMs has accelerated in recent years due to a number of important factors, including regulatory agencies advocating for SBOMs as a best practice for software supply chain security, industry initiatives promoting SBOMs as a key element of software security, supply chain attacks highlighting the need for SBOMs as a proactive and preventive measure, customer demands and market pressures influencing the adoption of SBOMs, and technological advancements facilitating the creation and consumption of SBOMs.

However, SBOMs are not a silver bullet for software supply chain security. SBOMs are only as good as the data they contain, and the quality of data can vary depending on the source and the method of collection. SBOM inventory is constantly changing, and being able to leverage their up-to-date data requires continuous runtime analysis and dynamic inventory. Organizations can benefit from a full-stack attack surface management (ASM) software supply chain solution that delivers continuous third-party application asset discovery and dynamic tracking of third-party vendors.

Overall, organizations need to adopt a comprehensive and risk-based approach to software supply chain security, of which SBOMs and tools to best leverage their information are an important component. Organizations should establish policies and procedures for SBOM creation, management, and sharing, as well as for SBOM validation and verification. Organizations should also integrate SBOMs with other security measures and practices, such as threat modeling, penetration testing, and code review to best ensure the security of their software supply chains.

Key points:
– SBOMs are standardized inventories of software components used in a particular product or system.
– SBOMs provide transparency and visibility into the software supply chain, and they can be an effective approach for identifying and mitigating security risks, compliance issues, and operational challenges.
– The adoption of SBOMs has accelerated in recent years due to regulatory agencies advocating for SBOMs, industry initiatives promoting SBOMs, supply chain attacks highlighting the need for SBOMs, customer demands and market pressures influencing the adoption of SBOMs, and technological advancements facilitating the creation and consumption of SBOMs.
– SBOMs are only as good as the data they contain, and the quality of data can vary depending on the source and method of collection.
– Organizations can benefit from a full-stack attack surface management (ASM) software supply chain solution for continuous third-party application asset discovery and dynamic tracking of third-party vendors.
– Organizations need to adopt a comprehensive and risk-based approach to software supply chain security, of which SBOMs and tools to best leverage their information are an important component.