Effective Software Bill of Materials Management should be a core part of all software creation processes. Currently, it’s not only a Federal demand – the US government won’t allow software to be launched in the states without a valid Bill Of Management report passing through their inspection process – but a business practice that optimizes your software creation. It makes it transparent, and easy to spot errors and fix them, which ultimately leads to reducing costs and better quality programs. In this article, we’ll describe some of the practices of SBOM.
What is a software bill of materials management?
Software Bill of Materials Management is a software-based system to supervise the supply chain of software — its life cycle.
It is used to track, plan, and control the flow of software products.
Software Bill of Materials Management can help in solving some common problems in the IT industry such as:
- Software piracy
- Product key leakage
- Software counterfeit
At its core, SBOM is a document that contains all the information about the software and its current versions. It also includes details about the components, requirements, and dependencies of the software — it is extremely critical because for a couple of years now, the US government has been on the warpath regarding software – particularly those used in the medical industry as well as federal departments, agencies and outside government contractors. Why? Because supply-chain attacks – such as SolarWinds, Codecov, Casey, and, most recently, Apache Log4j, have been increasing dramatically.
The Software Bill of Materials is a standard document that can be used to track software changes, as well as to identify any potential risks when deploying or updating it. The SBOM is created by following an industry-wide process and should contain all the necessary information for understanding what an organization has deployed or updated.
Any organization that creates software should maintain a valid SBOM for their codebase — one that is being updated, if possible, automatically. The truth is that most software creators and businesses that deal with software normally use a mix of custom-built – created in-house – code with commercial off-the-shelf components, and sometimes a whopping amount of free open-source code. Each software has hundreds of thousands of components and some of those parts are either outdated or sketchy.
For example, here are some surprising statistics – developed by the Open Source Security Risk and Analysis – OSSRA – about software development and why the government is so preoccupied with it.
- 97% of all codebases scanned contain open source coding.
- Only 7% of companies have actual knowledge of all their open-source coding and what it’s used for.
- 53% of all codebases audited by OSSRA contained software licensing conflicts — which opened companies to serious legal implications.
- 81% of reviewed codebases had multiple vulnerabilities.
On top of that, most software contained outdated components. Components that were hurting the software’s current versions. Components that should have been edited out long ago.
Top practices for software bill of materials management
An itemized list of materials and parts used in the manufacturing of a product is critical in today’s overly complex world — one that moves at a lightning-fast pace and demands quick solutions. Software Bill of Materials Management allows companies to quickly ID and assess risks in their codebase.
The Software Bill of Materials Management is a list that includes all the components that go into a product. It is usually generated by the manufacturer, but it can also be generated by an outside company with access to information about the product. This can help provide insight into a software’s current DNA and if it needs some gene-splicing, as well as how much money needs to be invested to produce a more reliable product.
While there are many benefits to having this type of information, there are also some drawbacks. The biggest drawback is that it can be difficult for those who don’t know what they’re looking at or who don’t have experience with this type of information to understand it fully.
Let’s look at some of the practices that all SBOM services should employ.
One format
It’s important to use a standard format when structuring Software Bill of Materials Management data. If possible check and mirror industry-wide formatting — what your peers, your competitors, and others have adopted as a format. This will help if you ever need to create reports that need to be submitted for outside audits.
Automation
Automate Software Bill of Materials Management generation with the right software bill of materials tools — by linking up to apps, digital tools, and other software companies can streamline their BOMs and slice out some of the minutia and mundanity associated with their creation. They can outsource the dull and heavy lifting to software.
A powerful SCA – Software Composition Analysis – Tool can do wonders for a project’s SBOM. It can generate a report – without the need for human teams interfering – of all third-party and custom components of a product. An SCA automation tool can provide this type of information continually, ensuring that your company has the most up-to-date picture available.
Updates
Update your Software Bill of Materials Management with each release — your software, your apps, and your digital ecosystem evolves. Each version of it demands an SBOM report. That’s why, in some cases, you must invest in automation tools.
Metadata
When migrating designs, codes, and other key features of your software it is critical that you also transfer metadata. Metadata describes each version of your software properties and capabilities — it is descriptive, administrative, and structural. It facilitates the undertaking of software development as well as easy search and retrieval of key data.
Software as service
Software as a service, or SaaS, is a software distribution model in which the vendor develops web-based software and makes it available to customers over the Internet. SaaS has been around for nearly two decades and is now evolving into what’s called “cloud computing.” The early days of software as a service (or SaaS) were dominated by large enterprise-level vendors. But today, smaller companies are starting to use this distribution model to offer their own web-based services.
Today, the Software Bill of Materials Management is critical when selling software over the net or in an App store — each vendor needs to show distributors that their software is safe and what it does. In any case, certain stores crack down on unreliable software or those that don’t have a proper SBOM report they can audit.
Software Bill of Materials Management — the core of your software creation processes
Software development is an ongoing process — the process of building and maintaining applications and software. The process includes the design, coding, testing, deployment, and support of the software. Software Bill of Materials Management takes into account each iteration of this complex and dynamic process and allows you to not only meet certain industry standards and Federal mandates but have a more effective over your product’s quality.
The best way for businesses to do this is by adopting SBOM management as a core part of their process for building software.
