Have you ever encountered a situation where a mobile phone was recalled for free for repair?
Some people may encounter such a problem. After purchasing a mobile phone for a period of time, they suddenly receive an official notification from the mobile phone brand: a component on the handset module may be faulty, and the handset cannot make a sound when making or answering a call. question.
Similar product recalls have also occurred in other industries. Even parts from third-party suppliers are covered by the recall for repairs. Because the components supplied by the third party are also part of the product, once a problem occurs, it will also bring irreparable reputation and business losses to the brand.
The reason why similar safety hazards can be discovered in time and the products can be recalled quickly is because the product manufacturer has a clear bill of materials (BOM) for each product . At the same time, the product manufacturer can quickly confirm which batch and version of the product the "parts and accessories" are applied to through this bill of materials, and notify the corresponding customers in time to reduce losses caused by product safety issues.
In the field of software security, there are also similar technical services to help enterprises efficiently and safely manage software assets, which are called "software bill of materials" (SBOM). Recently, the open source network security software bill of materials management platform has been officially launched, and it can be experienced first to realize the security management and control of software material assets.
What is a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)?
The software bill of materials refers to a list of all components contained in the software product, the list of relevant license agreements, and a description of the dependencies among all components.
SBOM has three major standard formats in the world, namely SPDX, CycloneDX and SWID.
The following table maps the baseline component information to the existing format:
Why do software bill of materials management?
01
Improve software system security
Through the detailed disassembly and risk correlation of the internal components of the software, the "black box" of the software is opened, and potential security vulnerabilities surface, helping enterprises reduce software security risks and improve the security of software systems.
02
Facilitating Software Security Compliance
Provides detailed component/license compliance information for vulnerability management and asset management, which facilitates enterprise asset inventory, improves software compliance, reduces compliance risks, and reduces the burden on enterprises to fulfill compliance obligations.
03
Enhance business competitive advantage
By providing a clear SBOM (Software Bill of Materials), it helps companies demonstrate the quality and reliability of software to customers, regulators and other stakeholders. Enhance customer trust and form a business competitive advantage.
04
Reduce enterprise security costs
The presentation of the security and compliance of used licenses/components will greatly improve the efficiency of component selection for developers; at the same time, it will improve the transparency of software components and security, reduce the time and cost of risk investigation for developers and security personnel, and accelerate development process.
How to do a good job in software material (asset) management?
The open source network security software bill of materials management platform is based on basic information such as software/component sources and versions and internal software component information, dynamically correlates external security vulnerability intelligence, and conducts security tracking and management of enterprise software assets. Use powerful data analysis and multi-dimensional data visualization capabilities to make component security issues invisible.
01
Refined software material (asset) management
The "graininess" is different, and the "insight" to the problem is different. Traditional software asset management stays more in the dimensions of software version, type, name, supplier, etc., and the information on the internal components of the software is vague. Software assets become a "black box", which is unclear, intangible, and uncontrollable.
Therefore, in terms of software asset management, it is urgent to refine the sorting and visual display of software internal component information (including but not limited to: internal reference components, licensed versions, sources, calling locations, dependencies, hierarchical relationships, etc.). Reduce the "ambiguity" of software assets and help enterprises quickly find out their assets.
02
Systematic software security risk management
With the advent of the era of software-defined everything, software security threats are becoming more and more disseminated and hidden, and it is urgent to consider software security risk management from a global and interrelated perspective.
The open source network security software bill of materials management platform has powerful data analysis and visualization capabilities, restores the layers, dependencies, and existing security risks of the internal component information of the software, and draws a visual relationship chart. Assist customers in analyzing the transmission path of safety risks, quickly trace the source, and delineate the scope of influence.
03
Visual and dynamic management and control of software assets
By collecting various static and dynamic data required for software security analysis, a unified software asset risk view is formed. Visualize and digitally present the abstract and non-specific software asset security situation.
At the same time, the open source network security software bill of materials management platform collects and analyzes software components in real time, without business awareness, helping enterprises to obtain the latest software security situation information in a timely manner, quickly adjust security strategies according to changes in internal and external security environments, and improve security risks. emergency capacity.
04
Standardized Software Bill of Materials
Through the three major steps of "identifying components - obtaining data - constructing SBOM", the standardized SBOM file is output to ensure that the file format is valid and the attributes are compliant.
The open source network security software BOM management platform strictly follows three internationally recognized software BOM standards, including the Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) standard, OWASP CycloneDX and Software Component Verification (SCVS) standard.