SBOM Security
Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) was initially focused on supply chain risk management or security. If you know how all the tools and components in your application interact, you can lessen the danger of a component being compromised. SBOMs have become an indispensable component of the majority of security teams due to the fact that they provide a speedy method to trace the “blast radius” of a portion of an application that has been hacked.
Nevertheless, the utility of an SBOM extends far beyond the protection of an application. If you have an understanding of how an application is constructed (including all of the connections and dependencies that exist between all of its components), then you can also utilise that understanding to enhance the way in which an application functions.
Take into consideration that it is the opposite of the security use case. As an alternative to removing a compromised application component in order to prevent downstream repercussions, you are optimising a component in order to ensure that downstream systems will benefit from it.
SBOM management
With regard to application management, the function of SBOMs
When seen in this light, SBOMs are able to fulfil a significant need within the field of application management. To handle particular areas of application operations and performance, the majority of application teams make use of a wide variety of tools that are designed for a single use. The silos that are created by those toolkits, on the other hand, make it simple to lose sight of the more comprehensive strategic perspective of an application.
This loss of perspective is especially alarming in light of the development of application tools and the enormous amount of data that these tools generate on a daily basis. It is possible for all of the widgets that optimise, monitor, and report on apps to grow so boisterous that the owner of the application may easily feel overwhelmed by all of the data. All of that information is there for a reason: somebody believed that it was necessary to measure it. However, its usefulness is contingent upon its contribution to a more comprehensive application strategy.
When an SBOM is used, it offers a more strategic perspective that can assist application owners in prioritising and analysing all of the information that they are receiving from various toolsets and operating environments simultaneously. Because of this, you will have a better understanding of the entire programme, with all of its magnificent intricacy and interconnection. Due to the fact that it places the data and dashboards that were developed by isolated toolkits in perspective, this strategic view is an essential basis for any application owner. The application tooling provides you with an understanding of what it does and, more critically, what it does not know.
Observability gaps can also be identified through the use of SBOM maps, which depict application dependencies and data flows. They could be in operational components, which are not gathering the data that you require to evaluate their performance. These gaps could be in operational components. There is also the possibility that there are gaps between the siloed data sources, which necessitates the provision of some kind of context regarding the manner in which they interact.
SBOM example
The use of SBOMs together with IBM Concert
IBM Concert is a new application management solution that makes use of artificial intelligence to contextualise and prioritise the information that flows between siloed application toolkits and operating environments. SBOMs play a significant role in this product. In order to get started with IBM Concert, the simplest way to do so is to upload an SBOM, which will then allow you to examine your application from almost every angle.
When it comes to defining the boundaries of an application, IBM Concert initially makes use of SBOMs.
The process of associating data flows and operational features with a specific application can be challenging, particularly when working with an application that spans both on-premises and cloud environments and has data flows that are interrelated. It is possible for IBM Concert to concentrate on the data sets that are important since an SBOM creates a clear barrier around an application.
In addition, SBOMs provide IBM Concert with a helpful overview of the ways in which the various data items included inside an application are connected to one another. As a result of identifying such connections and dependencies in advance, IBM Concert is able to concentrate on analysing data flows across that architecture rather than attempting to create a theory of how an application functions from the ground up.
The provision of a standardised data format that identifies relevant data sources is another way in which SBOMs are of assistance to IBM Concert. SBOMs function as a type of translation layer, which helps to identify risk data from network data, cost information from security information, and so on. This is despite the fact that the “language” of each application may be different. IBM Concert now has a reference point from which to begin its analysis now that these guardrails have been established.
SBOM security
Your next move is to: There is truth to be found in SBOMs
There is a good chance that your application already contains this information and is prepared to be utilised, given that SBOMs are a standard component of security and compliance teams. Simply ensuring that your SBOM is up to date and then reusing that information by uploading it into IBM Concert is all that is required to accomplish this particular task. The completion of even this uncomplicated step will pave the road for your application to receive vital strategic information.
