SBOM Resources & Best Practices

A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) is a detailed, structured list of all components, libraries, and dependencies included in a software application. Think of it like an ingredient list for software. It includes metadata such as component name, version, license, supplier, and relationships between components.

SBOMs help organizations understand what's inside their software. This visibility is critical for identifying known vulnerabilities (CVEs), ensuring compliance with open source licenses, and maintaining software supply chain integrity.

Any organization that builds, buys, or deploys software should use SBOMs. They're particularly important for security teams, compliance officers, DevOps teams, and software vendors.

The main SBOM formats are:

• CycloneDX (developed by OWASP)
• SPDX (Software Package Data Exchange, used by the Linux Foundation)
• SWID (Software Identification Tags, used by NIST) These formats define how SBOM data is structured and exchanged.

SBOMs can be generated using automated tools that scan your source code, binaries, containers, or package manifests. Common tools include Syft, SPDX tools, CycloneDX CLI, and platform-specific integrations (e.g. Docker, GitHub Actions).

Integrate SBOM generation into your CI/CD pipelines so that a new SBOM is created every time the software is built. This ensures that your SBOM always reflects the current state of the software.

• Syft

• Trivy

• CycloneDX CLI

• Anchore

• FOSSA / Snyk / Black Duck (commercial SCA tools)

SBOMs are usually in JSON or XML format. Each entry includes metadata like package name, version, license, and supplier. Visualization tools or SBOM parsers can help make this data more human-readable.

SBOMs can help demonstrate compliance with:

• Open source licenses (e.g. GPL, MIT)

• Regulations (e.g. EO 14028, NIS2)

• Internal policies (e.g. no usage of high-risk libraries) They make audits faster and more transparent.

NIS2 emphasizes supply chain security and risk management for essential and important entities. While it doesn't mandate SBOMs by name, having SBOMs aligns with NIS2 principles like software transparency, incident response, and vulnerability management.

EO 14028 (U.S.) mandates federal agencies to adopt software supply chain security practices, including the use of SBOMs for all critical software. This has become a catalyst for wider SBOM adoption across industries.

In some sectors (e.g., U.S. federal contracts), yes. In others, it’s becoming an industry best practice and may soon become mandatory under regulations like NIS2 or CRA (Cyber Resilience Act).

An SBOM lists all components and their versions. This can be cross-referenced with vulnerability databases (e.g. NVD, GitHub Advisory DB) to detect if any included components have known CVEs.

Not directly. But they provide the foundation for better security by enabling proactive vulnerability management, patch prioritization, and improved incident response.

By continuously monitoring your SBOMs against updated vulnerability feeds, you can get real-time alerts when a component you use becomes risky.

Use SBOM generation tools as build steps in your CI/CD workflows. Store the generated SBOMs as build artifacts and link them to deployments.

With tools like Syft, CycloneDX, or GitHub-native actions. Automation ensures consistency and reduces manual errors.

SBOMs provide transparency and accountability, making it easier to shift security left. They also integrate well with SCA tools and policy engines for automated enforcement.

In complex systems, each component may have its own SBOM. A multi-layer SBOM links these together, showing a complete hierarchy of dependencies.

Through SBOM aggregation, normalization, and central platforms. Governance frameworks and shared policies ensure consistency.

Standardized formats (like CycloneDX) and normalization tools help align different SBOMs. Some platforms also offer diffing or merging capabilities.