The World of SBOM
In the last few years, there’s so much development in the IT industry that every software needs to keep itself updated and release its version more frequently than ever before. Abiding by this need, the software becomes more prone to the threat of risks and vulnerabilities as it is using third party resources and containers to provide the customers with the best service. But what is it that brings us to the transparency of the supply chain in order to avoid cyber security threats? This question leads us to SBOM.
In this blog, I’ll be covering the following topics:
1. What is SBOM?
2. Why SBOM is needed?
3. What is the cycle of SBOM?
4. What is the future of SBOM?
5. Conclusion
What is SBOM?
SBOM or Software Bill of Materials, is an inventory or a log of components and resources needed for an application or a software. It includes third party and open-source components such as dependencies, code, programming language frameworks and libraries in its list of ingredients in order to make the software viable, up-to-date and protected. It provides us with the complete lineage of where the components are coming from and where they are getting used or in other words, it comprises of a dependency tree of resources and components.
According to NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration), SBOM should have the following minimal requirements:
- Component name.
- Component version.
- A unique identifier
- Relationship with other components.
- The organization/person that created the artifact.
- The tool used to generate the SBOM.
- The timestamp when the SBOM was generated.
Why SBOM is needed?
As the need for “businesses to go online” is increasing, critical businesses are also opting to looking forward to grow online, not taking in consideration, the maintenance of security and the performance of their application. Whenever there is a vulnerability, the most probable source of vulnerability and threat is the component such as the third-party dependency. So, in order to track the risk, SBOM is needed. The other reasons why SBOM is needed are as follows:
· Handling the risk in software supply chain
· Avoiding vulnerabilities
· Making the software more secure and protected
· Analyzing the quality of supply chain
· Verifying license compliance
· Understanding the components used in the software
What is the cycle of SBOM?
The lifecycle of SBOM consists of the following parts:
1. The code of the software consists of a programming language along with its modules or some other technologies.
2. This code goes to the CI/CD pipeline i.e., the delivering of the apps with automation in its process.
3. The combination of code and CI/CD travels down to the artifacts. Artifacts may be some container or a tarball. It is essentially a file system that provides packaging.
4. Here comes the SBOM, where we can use the inputs and form an SBOM for it. It is then made relevant to the artifacts.
5. Now SBOM can be used for services like checking the vulnerabilities, licenses, and compliance.
What is the future of SBOM?
SBOM is still in its growing phase and is expected to extend with high importance relative to its creation and consumption. Following developments in the SBOMS are as follows:
· CycloneDX is being developed frequently.
· SPDX 3.0 is being drafted.
· New SPDX standard is in consideration in order to store more data in the SBOMs and to add more depth along with integration.
Conclusion
Considering that open source is a fundamental part of application development today, every company ought to utilize a viable SCA tool to use the open source and third-party components in their program.
Keeping a SBOM is imperative to solve rapidly the security, license, and functional dangers that can go with open-source software use.
Learning Resources
Dive deep into the world of SBOM with the help of these links: