Executive Order 14028, signed by President Joe Biden on May 12, 2021, aims to strengthen the United States' cybersecurity posture. One of its key provisions requires the generation of Software Bill of Materials (SBOMs) for software sold to the federal government. In this article, we'll discuss how SCANOSS can help companies generate complete SBOMs, address the need to detect undeclared components in the era of Al-assisted coding, and differentiate from SBOM generating tools that only detect declared dependencies.
The Importance of Complete SBOMs in Compliance with Executive Order 14028
A comprehensive SBOM is crucial for ensuring the security and compliance of software products. SBOMs provide an inventory of all software components, including open-source libraries and dependencies, used within a software product.
This transparency enables organizations to identify and manage potential security vulnerabilities, licensing issues, and other risks associated with third-party code.
However, not all SBOM generating tools are equal. Many tools only detect declared dependencies, potentially missing critical components and files that might introduce security and compliance risks. This is where SCANOSS comes into play, offering a more comprehensive solution for generating SBOMs that include both declared and undeclared components.
SCANOSS: A Comprehensive Solution for SBOM Generation
SCANOSS is an affordable, open OSS Inventory & Intelligence platform designed to help organizations generate complete SBOMs by detecting both declared and undeclared components. This comprehensive approach is particularly important given the increasing adoption of Al-assisted coding tools, which can introduce compliance risks if not properly managed.
Al-assisted coding tools can inadvertently incorporate third-party code fragments without proper attribution, potentially violating licensing requirements or introducing security vulnerabilities. SCANOSS addresses this challenge by comparing code fingerprints against the largest knowledgebase of open source to detect undeclared components, files, and even snippets.
SCANOSS supports ingestion and generation of both SPDX and CycloneDX specifications, ensuring compatibility with widely accepted SBOM formats. Organizations can use SCANOSS to generate SBOMs through the user interface called Audit Workbench or via the command-line interface (CLI) for easy automation from other systems.
Conclusion
In the era of evolving cybersecurity threats and increasing regulatory requirements, organizations need comprehensive tools to help them generate complete SBOMs and maintain compliance. SCANOSS offers a robust solution that goes beyond merely detecting declared dependencies, ensuring that even undeclared components, files, and snippets are identified and accounted for. By leveraging SCANOSS, organizations can confidently comply with the provisions of Executive Order 14028 and mitigate security and compliance risks associated with their software products.
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