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Glossary Glossary

Software Supply Chain Security




Software supply chain security refers to the protection of the entire process of designing, building, and deploying software. It involves identifying and mitigating security issues and risks in the technologies and systems used in the software development life cycle.

Software supply chain security goes beyond simply securing finished products. It recognizes that modern software development heavily relies on external components. Vulnerabilities in any component can be exploited to compromise the entire application and the systems it runs on.

Table of Contents

What Is the Software Supply Chain?

The software supply chain includes everything and everyone involved in the software development process. These include but are not limited to the following:

  • Third-party components: Open-source libraries, frameworks, and other dependencies.
  • Development tools and environments: The tools developers use to write, build, and test code.
  • Build systems and processes: The automated systems used to compile and package software.
  • Deployment infrastructure: The servers, networks, and other infrastructure used to deploy and run software.

All these software supply chain elements contribute to an organization’s external attack surface expansion, as each dependency introduces potential vulnerabilities attackers can exploit.

Key Concepts in Software Supply Chain Security

Software supply chain security involves several cybersecurity processes that you also need to be familiar with.

Vulnerability Identification

Vulnerability identification or detection is the core of most security strategies, including software supply chain security. This involves thorough and continuous scanning of the codebase, third-party libraries, technologies, and infrastructure for security misconfigurations and known vulnerabilities.

Penetration testing is also instrumental in identifying exploitable vulnerabilities by simulating real-world attacks.

SBOM

A software bill of materials (SBOM) is a formal record of all the components used to build a software. It is a regulatory requirement for all software companies when supplying to federal agencies, as mandated by Executive Order 14028.

Beyond regulatory compliance, maintaining an SBOM helps security teams understand the composition of a software. It guides asset discovery processes and enables security teams to quickly identify vulnerabilities in the software supply chain.

DevSecOps Methodologies

Development, security, and operations (DevSecOps) integrates security practices into the whole software development cycle. Its methodologies typically include the following:

  • Automated security testing: Integrating security testing tools into the continuous integration/deployment (CI/CD) pipeline (i.e., the steps software developers take to continuously integrate and deliver a product).
  • Secure coding training: This involves educating developers on secure coding practices, including the Secure by Design principles.
  • Threat modeling: This method identifies potential security threats during the design and planning phases.
  • Vulnerability assessment: DevSecOps includes conducting security assessments at each stage of the development process.

TPRM

Third-party risk management (TPRM) is a crucial aspect of modern software supply chain security. Given that nearly 30% of third-party attacks lead to data breaches, effectively managing the potential risks associated with third-party vendors and suppliers is no longer optional.

Figure 1: Technologies dashboard showing detected third-party technologies

In essence, TPRM involves evaluating the security posture of vendors, assessing the risks associated with the components they provide, and implementing controls to minimize potential vulnerabilities.

How Do Software Supply Chain Attacks Work?

Software supply chain attacks exploit vulnerabilities within the ecosystem of tools, processes, and third-party components involved in the software development life cycle. Here are some of the most common attack vectors.

Compromising Build Systems

Attackers can infiltrate build servers, the systems used to compile and package software. Once the build system is compromised, bad actors can integrate custom code into the software during the development process, access the source code to steal proprietary data, or disrupt the entire development process.

Targeting Open-Source Repositories

Threat actors can exploit vulnerabilities in well-known open-source repositories like GitHub, GitLab, and npm. Once compromised, they can inject malicious code into libraries and frameworks or replace legitimate software packages with malicious versions. When developers use these open-source libraries or packages, they may consequently integrate malicious components into their software.

Attacking Development Environments

Malicious actors can directly target developer workstations, integrated development environments (IDEs), and other development tools to manipulate or introduce malware into the development process.

Software Supply Chain Security Attack Examples

Below are real-world examples of software supply chain attacks.

  • SolarWinds supply chain attack (2020): This high-profile attack involved SolarWinds’s Orion software, a network monitoring tool used by more than 30,000 organizations. Attackers inserted malicious code into software updates, allowing them to gain access to the networks of several government agencies and private companies worldwide. As a result, SolarWinds paid US$26 million to shareholders as a settlement in a class action lawsuit. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also sued the company and its CEO in 2023.
  • Codecov supply chain attack (2021): Bad actors compromised the Codecov Bash Uploader, a tool many organizations use for code testing analysis. This allowed them to steal sensitive information in CI environments, including developer credentials.
  • Kaseya VSA ransomware attack (2021): This attack targeted Kaseya VSA, a remote monitoring and management software used by managed service providers (MSPs). While there was no evidence that customers and their data were compromised, the malicious activity resulted in business disruptions.
  • MOVEit transfer data breach (2023): Threat actors exploited a vulnerability in the widely used file transfer application, allowing them to steal the data of millions of users across the globe.

Importance of Software Supply Chain Security

Securing the software supply chain helps reduce the risk of data breaches, as it allows organizations to proactively identify and mitigate vulnerabilities at every stage of the software development process.

Preventing data breaches consequently enables organizations to avoid financial losses, notably since supply chain breaches were among the factors that amplified the average cost of a data breach.

Software supply chain security is also crucial for regulatory compliance. Many regulations, such as the Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, require organizations to implement strong software supply chain security measures.

Lastly, strong supply chain security practices demonstrate a commitment to security, helping enhance brand reputation and build customer confidence.

How Does Supply Chain Security Relate to AppSec and DevSecOps?

Software supply chain security, AppSec, and DevSecOps are closely related concepts that enhance an organization’s overall security.

DevSecOps is the broader concept. It encompasses AppSec and supply chain security. It provides a framework that guides organizations in integrating security protocols throughout the software development process.

AppSec is a subset of software supply chain security, mainly focusing on the security of the software itself. It identifies and mitigates vulnerabilities in the application’s proprietary code and protects it from cyber attacks.

Common Risks in Software Supply Chain Security

The software supply chain is vulnerable to cyber attacks in several ways. We will talk about a few of these risks below.

Dependency Confusion

Software is rarely built from scratch today. Development teams rely on third-party components like application programming interfaces (APIs), frameworks, and open-source code to accelerate development.

However, these external components can significantly expand the attack surface since each third-party element introduces potential vulnerabilities that may serve as cyber attack entry points.

These components also create dependencies that can make supply chain attacks more potent. For example, if a widely used open-source component is compromised with malicious code, any software that uses that library becomes vulnerable. This can lead to widespread infections.

Figure 2: Graph showing the dependencies between all external-facing assets

Malicious Packages

Threat actors can intentionally create software packages designed to infiltrate systems, which they disguise as legitimate software components. When developers download and install these packages into their software, this enables threat actors to perform malicious activities such as data exfiltration and ransomware deployment.

Threat actors may also use these malicious packages to create backdoors that allow attackers remote access to a target system.

Security Oversight

Modern software development has become incredibly complex. Teams often work across geographical locations, utilizing many tools and technologies. While enabling faster development cycles, this interconnectedness also introduces numerous potential entry points for attackers.

For example, some security protocols may get overlooked during the initial design phase when there is a rush to meet deadlines. During deployment, complicated configurations may create security gaps. Attackers can take advantage of weaknesses in each stage. A minor security oversight in one part of the development process can have significant repercussions that can impact an entire system.

Best Practices to Mitigate Software Supply Chain Risks

Given the impact of supply chain attacks, organizations must implement best practices in software supply chain security. We cited some of them here.

Implement SBOM

Create an accurate SBOM for each software and ensure it is accurate and up-to-date. Many organizations find it helpful to leverage SBOM tools to monitor software for dependencies.

Employ Vulnerability Management Strategies

Establish a vulnerability management program that regularly scans for and patches software components’ vulnerabilities and their dependencies. The program can be made more efficient by implementing a risk-based vulnerability management (RBVM) approach, which helps prioritize critical and exploitable vulnerabilities.

Figure 3: Issues dashboard showing the distribution of security vulnerabilities by severity

Automate CI/CD Security Measures

Integrate security checks into your CI/CD pipeline by using tools, such as the following:

  • Static application security testing (SAST): Scans the source code for security vulnerabilities.
  • Dynamic application security testing (DAST): These tools test software as they run to identify vulnerabilities that only occur during execution.
  • External attack surface management (EASM): These platforms automatically identify Internet-facing software components and their vulnerabilities.

SAST, DAST, and EASM are useful automation tools that can help strengthen software supply chain security.

Perform Regular Audits and Risk Assessments

Regularly assess the security posture of your entire software supply chain, including third-party components, production environments, and deployed systems.

It’s also crucial to conduct thorough assessments of third-party vendors that encompass their security controls, incident response plans, and compliance with relevant regulations.

Implement Secure Coding Practices

Educate developers on common vulnerabilities (e.g., SQL injection, cross-site scripting [XSS]) and how to write secure proprietary code. Implement code review processes to detect and address security vulnerabilities early in the development cycle. SAST tools can help, allowing developers to see where they can improve.

How Can Attaxion Help Mitigate Software Supply Chain Security Risks?

As an EASM platform, Attaxion complements SBOM tools in uncovering dependencies between software components and external-facing assets. It scans discovered assets for vulnerabilities, assessing and ranking them based on exploitability and severity to aid in implementing an organization’s RBVM strategy.

Attaxion’s capabilities can also be used for third-party vendors so organizations can gain visibility into their external attack surface and the potential risks it poses to their software supply chain.

Key Takeaways

  • Software supply chain security involves protecting the entire process of software development and deployment.
  • The software supply chain includes third-party components, development tools and environments, build systems and processes, and deployment infrastructures.
  • The common attack vectors used in software supply chain attacks involve targeting build systems, open-resource repositories, and development environments.
  • The common risks include dependency confusion, malicious packages, and security oversight.

See how Attaxion can enhance your software supply chain security. Kickstart your 30-day trial now!