SBOM 101: Why Transparency is a Cybersecurity Imperative

The digital world runs on software, and modern software relies on an ever-expanding collection of open-source components and third-party libraries. Nearly every commercial application is built on hundreds, sometimes thousands, of these components, many of which are maintained by a global network of volunteer developers and decentralized maintainers.

This passion and decentralization, while a massive asset, also inherently creates a universal security blind spot: supply chain vulnerabilities. Incidents like Log4Shell, Heartbleed, and the recent Shai-Hulud worm have made it clear that organizations need greater visibility into what’s inside their software. That’s where the Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) comes in—it is a formal, machine-readable inventory of all the components, dependencies, and metadata used to build a software application, providing critical transparency into the supply chain.

This first post in our multi-part series offers a foundational guide to understanding what SBOM is, why it matters, and how it’s rapidly becoming essential to both cybersecurity resilience and regulatory compliance.

What is a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)?

At its heart, an SBOM is technical documentation that lists every component used in a specific piece of software. Much like a recipe, SBOMs itemize the constituent parts of the code, including:

• Open Source Software (OSS): Libraries and frameworks sourced from the public domain
• Third-Party and Commercial Libraries: Components that are licensed from other vendors
• Dependencies: Relationships between components used; how they rely on each other
• Versions and Hashes: The specific numbers and identifiers of each component
• Licensing: Crucial information for legal and compliance teams

While this concept is simple in theory, the constant introduction of new OSS and complex component dependencies makes maintaining an accurate inventory a difficult operational challenge, often leaving organizations unaware of their software’s full contents. This lack of awareness is precisely what creates serious security concerns, as a single vulnerable component can introduce a massive opening for threat actors to exploit.

Why Use SBOMs?

1. Instant Risk Mapping and Triage

The primary security value of an SBOM is transforming reactive chaos into proactive control. When a supply chain zero-day vulnerability is disclosed, security teams usually start their processes by performing a lengthy and manual research process to determine which of their applications are affected. This critical time is a window of opportunity for attackers.

With a high-quality SBOM, the process can be instantaneous:

• Security teams can upload SBOMs into their Threat Intelligence Platform to receive a detailed list of vulnerable software and its components.
• Security teams can run a vulnerability query against their inventory of SBOMs, immediately identifying every affected application, product, and customer.
• Doing so provides the map needed to begin triage, patching, and communication, dramatically cutting down the time-to-remediation (TTR).

2. Establishing Supply Chain Trust

Providing an SBOM is the ultimate trust signal in a world where software is inherently interconnected. Providing a quality SBOM to its customers and regulatory agencies demonstrates a strong, mature security posture. It establishes accountability and transparency, moving away from simple assurances toward verified documentation.

3. Regulatory Requirements

The US Government, working closely with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), has moved swiftly to legislate supply chain transparency. This movement culminated in concrete requirements as outlined in the H.R. 7900 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, which states that all organizations seeking to conduct business with the Department and Defense (DoD) or the Department of Energy (DoE) are required to provide an SBOM for every new and existing software contract.

The Next Step: Actionable Intelligence Using SBOMs

Creating and sharing a SBOM is vital, however, it is only the first step. The true security value lies in the ability to identify and remediate vulnerabilities affecting listed components.

Organizations often discover that triaging and remediating vulnerabilities affecting third-party and OSS is difficult when relying on traditional public sources of vulnerability intelligence. Sources like the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) and the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) frequently lack the necessary context, depth, and coverage for non-CVE listed vulnerabilities.

Therefore, maintaining a quality SBOM requires a comprehensive and detailed source. By providing actionable intelligence and expert insights, organizations will have better context into exploits, solutions, and vendor risk to better prioritize the most immediate threats.

Request a demo today to see how Flashpoint delivers quality vulnerability intelligence that helps address critical threats in a timely manner.