S3E14: Jon Meadows - The Secure Software Factory

Aug 10, 2022

Ask episode

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

Nikki: In some ways I think "software supply chain security" has become almost a buzz word, or buzz phrase? But to me it's more of a concern for security programs at large, since so many products and services are being developed in-house at organizations. What are the top three concerns that CISO's or security leaders should know?

Chris: We're obviously seeing a lot of buzz around SBOM, and now VEX. What are your thoughts on where things are headed with software component inventory and SBOM as part of cyber vulnerability management?

Chris: You were involved in the CNCF Secure Software Factory Reference Architecture. How was that experience and do you think organizations will be able to adopt the practices and guidance laid out there? There are a lot of moving parts.

Nikki: How do you feel about how pentests should be involved in a software supply chain security program? I personally am curious about possible implications and benefits of actively (and consistently) testing dependencies and potentially finding unknown vulnerabilities.

Chris: So we've talked about frameworks and guidance. Another big one is SLSA, Supply Chain Levels for Software Artifacts. What are your thoughts on SLSA and it's utility in the broader software supply chain security conversation.

Chris: SCRM can be like eating an elephant when you look at CSP's, MSP's, Software, and so on - what are your thoughts for organizations that don't have the resources of say a CitiBank, such as an SMB. Where do they start?

Nikki: I think we're still missing the human element of what a software supply chain security program looks like - how do you feel about that? Do you think we need to take more into account how people are using software, from a developer and a user perspective?

Chris: There has been a lot of focus on Containers of course in the conversation around Cloud-native ecosystems, coupled with Kubernetes, IaC and so on. Do you think these innovations make the challenge of software supply chain easier, or more difficult to manage?