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Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) has become a crucial aspect of modern software development, providing developers and security teams with a clear understanding of the components present in their software projects.
With the growing complexity of the software supply chain, maintaining and managing SBOM data is essential to ensure a secure and efficient development process.
In this blog, Cyware delineates ways SBOM data can be shared using Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX), and how Cyware platforms can help streamline SBOM management, enabling organizations to handle SBOM configurations in an automated and hassle-free manner.
Understanding SBOM and SPDX
A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) is a comprehensive list of components, libraries, and modules used in a software project, providing transparency into dependencies and potential security risks. It plays a critical role in identifying vulnerabilities, managing software updates, and ensuring compliance with licensing requirements. In the ever-evolving software supply chain, maintaining and managing SBOM data is essential to ensure a secure and efficient development process.
Introducing Data Formats: SPDX and CycloneDX
To facilitate SBOM data sharing and management, standard formats, such as Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) and CycloneDX are used. These formats enable efficient communication between stakeholders in the software supply chain and ensure that SBOM data is consistent, easy to understand, and can be processed by various tools and systems.
The widely-adopted SPDX format provides a standard way to share information about software components, their relationships, and associated licenses. CycloneDX, on the other hand, is a lightweight SBOM specification designed for application security and DevSecOps environments. Its ability to integrate into existing workflows promotes compatibility and provides robust support for a variety of software languages and platforms, allowing organizations to tailor their SBOM management processes to their specific needs.
While both SPDX and CycloneDX serve the purpose of standardizing SBOM data, they cater to different requirements and preferences. SPDX is more comprehensive, whereas CycloneDX offers simplicity and flexibility for specific use cases. Organizations can choose the format that best suits their needs, taking into account factors, such as tool compatibility, existing workflows, and the complexity of their software supply chain.
How Cyware Simplifies SBOM Management?
Cyware’s Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms—Respond (CFTR) and Orchestrate—streamline the process of maintaining SBOM configurations. While Orchestrate enables users to create playbooks that automate various tasks and processes, Respond allows them to integrate, maintain, and contextualize SBOM data.
In this use case, Orchestrate playbook runs on a cron schedule to connect to developer security platforms (Eg: GitHhub, Snyk etc.), export the SBOM components, and sync them to SBOM module created in Respond. Let’s dive into the implementation steps.
Step 1: Configure the integration of the developer security platform
To demonstrate the use case, Cyware used Snyk as the developer security platform to generate the SBOM packages.
To configure the Snyk connector in Orchestrate, obtain the API token from the “Account Settings” tab in Snyk.
After retrieving the API Token from Snyk, configure the Snyk instance in Orchestrate. This configuration will allow the playbooks to generate SBOM configurations for all supported projects on Snyk via the Snyk API.
Step 2: Orchestrate SBOM Management using Orchestrate
Once the Snyk integration is fully configured, proceed to configure the playbook in Orchestrate that syncs the SBOM packages from Synk onto the SBOM Respond module.
The Orchestrate playbook is effectively set to run across a cron schedule. On every run, the playbook connects to Snyk and automatically lists all organizations available on Snyk. This includes all the organizations and all the projects within those organizations.
Subsequently, the SBOM configurations for each project maintained on the Snyk platform are automatically generated. All the SBOM configurations are maintained in the SPDX format and the SBOM data is fed to a sub-playbook that integrates the SBOM component into the SBOM module in Respond.
Step 3: Integrate SBOM components in Respond
Each of the individual SBOM components onboarded onto the platform is maintained individually by Cyware’s Respond platform, giving security analysts the flexibility to not only integrate SBOM components into Respond but also link them to various other SDOs, such as malware, vulnerabilities, threat actors, etc., by means of the platform’s connect the dots functionality.
Moreover, assimilating the SBOM information into Respond allows an organization to expand into additional orchestrations on top of this SBOM component, such as running enrichments on the SBOM, sharing SBOMs upon request, building SBOM timelines, actioning on SBOMs, building SBOM reports, and so much more. All of this can be achieved by creating additional playbooks in Orchestrate, thereby building a robust supply chain security program.
The Benefits of Leveraging Cyware SOAR
By utilizing Cyware’s SOAR platforms for the management of SBOM processes, organizations can gain several benefits, including:
- Reduced manual efforts: The Orchestrate playbook automates the generation and integration of SBOM configurations, reducing manual intervention and the risk of human error.
- Consistency: Regular playbook execution ensures that the SBOM data is up-to-date and consistent across all projects, enabling better decision-making and risk management.
- Enhanced Security: By linking SBOM data to vulnerabilities, malware, IOCs, and threat actors in the Respond platform, security teams can gain a comprehensive understanding of the potential risks associated with their software components and address them proactively.
- Improved Collaboration: Sharing SBOM data in the SPDX format ensures that different stakeholders in the software supply chain can efficiently communicate and collaborate, leading to a more secure and efficient development process.
Ready to SOAR with Cyware?
By leveraging the combination of Orchestrate and Respond, organizations can streamline their SBOM management process, ensuring a more secure and efficient software development environment. Take advantage of automated SBOM generation, consistent data management, and enhanced security insights provided by Cyware’s SOAR platforms to stay ahead of potential risks and vulnerabilities in the ever-evolving software supply chain while opening an avenue for future automation.
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Posted on: May 19, 2023
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