Weaknesses within software supply chains create a foothold for exploitation from cyberattacks. The problem is so significant that even the White House released an Executive Order that speaks directly on this topic. “The Federal Government must take action to rapidly improve the security and integrity of the software supply chain,” states the Executive Order emphatically. Now, you may be wondering what your organization can do to mitigate this risk.

A staggering 96% of organizations utilize open-source libraries, yet fewer than 50% actively manage the security vulnerabilities within these libraries. Vulnerabilities are welcome mats for breaches from bad actors, and once they've entered your system, the impact can be colossal. A software bill of materials (SBOM) is an important tool for managing the security of open-source software.

A high-functioning security program leverages data to drive optimization – by satisfying governance, reporting, and compliance (GRC) requirements efficiently, creating visibility for risk-based prioritization, and leveraging automation throughout the software development lifecycle. Often, however, the data needed to drive these processes is spread across a complex ecosystem.

Software security vendors are applying Generative AI to systems that suggest or apply remediations for software vulnerabilities. This tech is giving security teams the first realistic options for managing security debt at scale while showing developers the future they were promised; where work is targeted at creating user value instead of looping back to old code that generates new work.