Some of the biggest and most infamous cyberattacks of the past decade were caused by a security breakdown in the software supply chain. SolarWinds was probably the most well-known, but it was not alone. Incidents against companies like Equifax and tools like MOVEit also wreaked havoc for organizations and customers whose sensitive information was compromised.

Expect to see more software supply chain attacks moving forward. According to ReversingLabs’ The State of Software Supply Chain Security 2024 study, attacks against the software supply chain are getting easier and more ubiquitous.

“For example, Operation Brainleeches, identified by ReversingLabs in July, showed elements of software supply chain attacks supporting commodity phishing attacks that use malicious email attachments to harvest Microsoft.com logins,” the report stated.

It is easier to conduct software supply chain attacks, so they are increasing at an alarming rate. The ReversingLabs report saw a 1,300% increase in threats coming from open-source package repositories last year. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that cybersecurity teams and government entities recognize the risks coming from the software supply chain, and there is a lot of action toward defending against these attacks and steps to solidify security before the software is released into the wild.

Who controls the software?

Who controls the software and who controls the device are the game-changers in software supply chain security, according to Xin Qiu, Sr., Director of Security Product Marketing and Management at CommScope. But that’s hyper-focused down to the developers and system engineers creating the software and setting up the systems. The problem is that there is little integration within an organization to enable effective control.

Companies have a lot of tools, but they are scattered around, says Qiu. Everyone is siloed, doing things in different ways. That approach has to change.

It is the federal government that is taking the lead in tackling software supply chain security with technical regulations and laws.

“To improve your software supply chain security, you need to have a common standard,” says Qiu. “I think this is a good way to fill those gaps.”

The most recognizable action taken by the government entities was the Executive Order(EO) from the Biden administration, which addresses the nation’s cybersecurity but especially emphasizes protecting the software supply chain. In conjunction with that EO, a cross-sector group representing different government agencies, the Enduring Security Framework (ESF) Software Supply Chain Working Panel, put together a comprehensive guide for recommended practices of security in the software supply chain for developers. NIST also has a framework to secure the software supply chain.

4 security solution trends for the software supply chain

But government guidelines and regulations only go so far, and it is up to organizations to better equip themselves with the tools, solutions and processes that allow developers, engineers and security and IT teams to address risks within the software supply chain. There are a number of ideas and tools out there, some initiated by the government, that are trending in the battle against vulnerabilities and threats.

1. Secure by design

At RSAC2024, CISA Director Jen Easterly and a panel of cybersecurity professionals gave a panel on CISA’s Secure by Design initiative. The idea is to build security into products and make it a business feature and core technical requirement rather than the more standard approach of treating security as a failure. “During the design phase of a product’s development lifecycle, companies should implement Secure by Design principles to significantly decrease the number of exploitable flaws before introducing them to the market for widespread use or consumption,” the initiative’s website states.

Part of the presentation was the introduction of the initial group of businesses that took the Secure by Design pledge. According to CISA, “By participating in the pledge, software manufacturers are pledging to make a good-faith effort to work towards the goals listed below over the following year.” The pledge includes a list of goals for developers and organizations to work toward. These goals include standards around MFA, reducing default passwords and better transparency around vulnerability disclosure and reporting. More than 200 organizations have taken the pledge so far.

2. Software bill of materials (SBOMs)

SBOMs are a nested inventory of all the components that make up a software application. The components can include open source, third parties, patch status and licenses. SBOMs have become a key part of the software supply chain security structure and are endorsed by CISA as a way for developers to build a community that works together to share ideas and experiences around operationalization, scaling, technologies, new tools and use cases. To encourage SBOM use and understanding, CISA facilitates regular meetings from those across the software development and design community and also offers a resource library.

SBOMs can help an organization identify risks, especially in third-party and proprietary software packages: track vulnerabilities within the different components; ensure compliance and help the team make better security decisions by being more aware of the component parts of their software.

3. Supply-chain levels for software artifacts (SLSA) frameworks

SLSA is a security framework to safeguard the integrity of software artifacts. It is a checklist of standards to better improve the integrity of the software, prevent tampering and exploitation and keep the infrastructure and application packages secure. The framework was based on Google’s production workloads and offers a structured approach to evaluating the security posture of software components throughout the supply chain.

4. Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) management

GRC management is used to mitigate security risks within a software development supply chain while ensuring the software meets required regulatory compliances and security standards. Some of the areas that GRC monitors include:

• Identifying risks across the entire software supply chain
• Vendor risk management and assessment of third-party security posture before integrating the software into your organization’s system
• Compliance management to meet industry and government standards
• Policy enforcement across the development lifecycle
• Incident response after a cyber incident caused by the software supply chain

GRC management tools can also be used with SBOM analysis.

The evolving puzzle of software supply chain security

This is just a sample of the tools and solutions used to protect the software supply chain from risk. As security is more consciously built into the software and developers and engineers share information in communities rather than working in silos, there is a fighting chance of slowing the threats against the software supply chain.