The attack on open-source software supply chains is rapidly increasing; a new study shows that attacks on open-source software supply chains increased by 42% in the first quarter of 2021.
Programmers and businesses cannot do without software supply chains, and open-source dependencies are part of it. Today, it is both a myth and stressful for programmers to build software from scratch without relying on other software. It doesn't matter if a programmer has great technical skills or knowledge; today's competitive market forces businesses and programmers to rely on other software to build another.
However, many attacks and vulnerabilities are constantly recorded on open-source dependencies mostly because of their nature. This article will teach you the meaning of open-source dependencies and why they are vulnerable to supply attacks.
What Are Open Source Dependencies?
Before knowing the meaning of open-source dependencies, you must first understand the meaning of the software supply chain.
When an average human hears about supply chains, they often think of containers of products on ships and cargo planes. However, in the case of software, cargo planes or ships are the clouds that serve the purpose of delivering new software and application updates to businesses.
In technical terms, a software supply chain comprises those components that touch the code of the software in the SDLC (software development lifecycle).
Open source dependencies are a type of software supply easily accessible by anyone — So it has higher security risks. Open-source components are widely used because of how easy it is for programmers to stitch them together with some bits of their own custom codes.
Why is Open Source Dependencies Vulnerable to Supply Chain Attacks
Open-source dependencies are usually vulnerable to supply chain attacks because of their accessibility to other programmers and organizations.
About 90% of the software used in the world now contains open-source software components, which is the beginning of security vulnerabilities. Since everyone has access to one particular open-source dependency, it can be reused by several programmers simultaneously, which can lead to security breaches.
There's virtually no industry that does not use open-source dependencies — The military, economic and technological industry uses these dependencies. So because of how diverse and expansive the usage of open-source dependencies is, there is a higher chance of unknown and even intentional security weaknesses being introduced into the chain.
Open source dependencies are very complex; there are software components that depend on other components which depend on another software component. Complexity makes it almost impossible for software developers of different companies to detect a particular software breach on an open-source dependency.
The same complexity can make a software company that supplies its services to another company a target for a supply chain attack. The common types of software supply chain attacks are from compromised software building tools consisting of code in firmware components and stolen code-sign certificates.
How To Reduce/Stop the Vulnerabilities of Open Source Dependencies
Certain steps can be taken to prevent open-source dependencies from being attacked or vulnerable to security breaches. They include:
Dependency Confusion Issues Should be Resolved
One of the things that makes an open-source dependency vulnerable is confusion due to multiple packages in the same library. Hackers and cybercriminals have found a way of utilizing this opportunity to inject codes that can lead to security breaches into a supply chain.
When an organization uses multiple third-party and internal libraries, there's a higher probability of them having security breaches. Cybercriminals make these attacks using a simple method — they create a fake package in an external library, and a package manager might pick it up instead of the real package, thereby causing a breach.
An organization can majorly reduce dependency confusion through increased security and the protection of library and package names.
Use Mock Up Attacks to Prepare
One of the ways to detect the origin and propagation of security breaches on open-source dependencies is to carry out mock-up attacks. When carrying out these attacks, the company or organization's team employs the same techniques and tools used by the cyber attackers.
Teams A and B will be in this simulation test — Team A will serve as the attackers while team B will act as those protecting the open source dependencies.
This is because when a simulation of an open-source dependency supply chain attack is carried out, it gives real-time knowledge of how everything happens. Also, those in team B will have a great experience of how and when they should act whenever a security breach happens.
Ultimately, the major takeaway of a mockup open-source software attack is learning how to prevent a similar or related attack from happening.
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Transparency
Transparency within open-source dependencies plays a major role in ensuring that an open-source dependency is not vulnerable to security attacks.
When talking about transparency, auditing your infrastructure is the best way to show it — IT should supervise or approve the software. Depending on how much software you use in a business or organization, all of them should be scrutinized and audited to reveal security vulnerabilities.
In auditing an open-source dependency, it would be much easier to detect what is vulnerable in your open-source software supply chain. With this in mind, an organization can easily prepare and increase its level of security before any security breaches happen.
A Strict Code Integrity Policy Should be in Place
Any supply chain attack that leverages open-source dependency integrity will be prevented when strict code integrity policies are in place.
These open-source dependency integrity policies will stop any red-flagged suspicious package or software library from being deployed or installed in a software supply chain. Although these policies might sometimes result in false alarms or calls, it is much better for attention to be drawn to a false alarm than a real supply chain attack.
Wrapping Up
Open source dependencies are very hard to secure as it is easily accessible by developers than their counterparts — This is a major reason why it experiences more cyber attacks.
Despite this, some methods and steps can still be employed to mitigate open-source dependency attacks. Creating a mock-up attack can help software developers or the IT department of an organization to learn how to combat similar attacks.
Also, auditing the entire software supply chain is a necessary transparency procedure as it helps identify components that pose a threat or are vulnerable to attack. Resolving open-source dependency confusion and introducing a strict integrity policy is necessary to reduce vulnerabilities.
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