Software supply chain attacks target the various tools, processes and components involved in building software.
The goal is often to inject malicious code into legitimate software packages or updates, which then gets distributed downstream to unsuspecting users and organizations. This method allows attackers to bypass traditional security measures and infiltrate the enterprise codebase, since it exploits the trusted connections between software developers and third-parties.
Software supply chain attacks in cyber security can occur through:
- Compromise of open-source libraries
- Attacking developer tools and environments like code repositories, build servers, or integration services.
- Third-party infiltration
- Compromising mechanisms used for software updates
What are Common Software Supply Chain Attacks Techniques?
The supply chain allows enterprises to quickly scale and accelerate time-to-market. As a result, they also offer multiple entry points to attackers. Some common techniques include:
-
Compromising Open Source Libraries (ChainJacking)– Inserting malicious code into open-source libraries and components. This creates a backdoor for attackers if the compromised component is used in runtime.
- Code Injection via Dependency Confusion – Uploading malicious packages to public repositories with the same name as private packages used by a target organization but with a higher version number. This tricks the build system into downloading and using the malicious package instead.
- Compromising the Development or Build Environment – Targeting developer tools and environments, like in the SolarWinds Orion breach.
- Signing Malware with Stolen Certificates – Stealing a legitimate certificate and making malware appear as if it comes from a trusted source.
- Attacking Third-Party Service Providers – Compromising providers that supply code repositories, build and deployment services, and other tools.
- Typosquatting – Creating malicious packages with names similar to popular libraries but with slight misspelling, so developers mistakenly download and use them.
- Watering Hole Attacks – Compromising websites or resources known to be frequented by developers (such as documentation sites or forums).
- Infiltrating through CI/CD – Breaching pipelines or tampering with CI/CD tool configurations.
Supply Chain Attacks Risks
Third-party services and software expand the enterprise attack surface. Each external component integrated into the system represents a potential entry point for attackers. The widespread use of open-source libraries, for instance, can lead to vulnerabilities being propagated across numerous projects and systems.
The complex nature of the supply chain also makes these attacks difficult to detect. Malicious activities are often designed to mimic legitimate processes, making them blend in with normal operations. In addition, they can allow attackers to quickly infiltrate a large number of victims, if the tampered components are used by multiple users.
A supply chain attack might mean halting operations, leading to significant financial losses and damaging an organization’s reputation. In addition, organizations may face legal penalties and compliance issues if a supply chain attack leads to the loss of sensitive customer data. Supply chain attacks can also result in the loss of intellectual property (IP), giving competitors an unfair advantage and damaging the victim’s market position.
Main Security Challenges of Supply Chain Attacks
When incorporating supply chain security strategies into their security plan, enterprises need to address the following challenges:
- Modern supply chains are vast and multi-layered and developers lack visibility into them, making it challenging to assess the security posture of every component.
- Organizations have direct control over their own cybersecurity practices but significantly less influence over the security measures implemented by their suppliers.
- Detecting a supply chain attack is inherently difficult due to its indirect nature. By the time an organization identifies a breach, the attacker might have already compromised critical systems and exfiltrated sensitive data.
How to Defend Against Software Supply Chain Attacks
If you’re the victim of a supply chain attack, here are the key measures to take:
- Isolate the affected systems or components to contain the breach. This may involve disconnecting affected parts of the network, shutting down certain operations, or physically isolating compromised hardware.
- Rapidly assess the scope and impact of the breach. Determine which components of the supply chain are affected, the nature of the malicious activity and the data or operations that are at risk. This step often involves forensic analysis to understand how the attack occurred and to identify the attackers’ methods.
- Communicate promptly and transparently with all stakeholders, including suppliers, customers and partners. You may also need to coordinate with external cybersecurity experts and law enforcement. It’s also required to comply with regulatory requirements concerning breach notification.
- Remove the malicious elements from the system, once the affected areas are identified and isolated. This step may involve cleaning or replacing compromised software or hardware. After the threats are eradicated, focus on restoring and rebuilding affected systems and operations safely.
- Enhance security measures to prevent future incidents. This might include updating or patching software, implementing stricter access controls, and improving the monitoring of network activity. Consider revising procurement processes to evaluate the security practices of suppliers more thoroughly.
- Conduct a thorough review of how the incident was handled and identify any weaknesses in your current security posture. This should lead to a revised incident response plan that addresses any shortcomings discovered during the review.
- Continuously monitor for anomalies indicative of a future supply chain attack. Continuous monitoring, combined with the use of advanced analytics and threat intelligence, can help identify potential threats before they manifest into a full-blown attack.
How to Detect a Supply Chain Attack
How can you detect if a supply chain attack took place?
- Anomaly Detection – Monitor for unusual activity across your network and systems. Utilize tools that employ ML to understand typical user and device behavior and to detect deviations that might suggest a compromise
- Third-Party Risk Assessments – Assess the security postures of all third-party vendors and partners.
- Threat Intelligence Sharing – Participate in industry-wide sharing platforms that provide information on TTPs used by attackers.
- Audit and Log Review – Look for unauthorized access attempts, unusual login locations or times and patterns that deviate from the norm.
How to Prevent a Supply Chain Attack
To protect your codebase and IP from supply chain attacks, follow these practices:
- Implement a Zero Trust security model that minimizes the access and privileges of software components. This limits the potential impact of a compromised element.
- Implement secure coding practices, including regular code reviews and using SCA, SAST and DAST tools to detect vulnerabilities early.
- Only use software libraries and dependencies from trusted, reputable sources. Check the integrity and authenticity of packages using digital signatures and checksums.
- Maintain a comprehensive SBOM for each application, detailing all components, libraries and dependencies.
- Regularly scan for vulnerabilities in third-party libraries and dependencies.
- Implement an efficient patch management process to update components swiftly when security patches are available.
- Conduct thorough security assessments of third-party vendors and suppliers.
- Integrate security into the DevOps process to automate and embed security checks throughout the CI/CD pipeline.
- Employ continuous monitoring solutions to detect unusual activities that may indicate a supply chain compromise.
- Educate developers about the risks associated with software supply chain attacks and how to detect social engineering tactics and malicious third-party components.
- Implemented automated security solutions to help you adhere to frameworks like SLSA and generate automated SBOMs.
How Checkmarx Helps Secure the Software Supply Chain
Checkmarx Supply Chain Security Solution provides visibility into the supply chain, helping enterprises secure from software supply chain threats, including open-source components.
With Checkmarx, organizations can meet SLSA compliance and gain confidence in their software supply chain.
Checkmarx provides capabilities like:
- Removing hard-coded passwords from the software supply chain through evaluation of developer communication.
- Automated SBOM creation
- Historical SBOM creation
- Ensuring repo health for prioritization of remediation activities. Example checks include:
- Binary Artifacts – Is the project free of checked-in binaries?
- Branch Protection – Does the project use branch protection?
- CI (Continuous Integration) Tests – Does the project run tests in CI, e.g., GitHub Actions, Prow?
- Code Review – Does the project practice code review before code is merged?
- Dangerous Workflows – Does the project avoid dangerous coding patterns?
- Vulnerabilities – Does the project have unfixed vulnerabilities?
- Malicious package detection based on 8 million open-source packages inspected
- Container image scanning for identifying vulnerable code
- Runtime insights correlation to identify exploitable vulnerabilities in running container images