Managing dependencies is not for the faint of heart. For a single project, you may be able to keep up with dependencies on your own. For software codebases with hundreds of modules, however, even the most seasoned developer will quickly descend into dependency hell. Don’t worry: dependency hell has happened to the best of us! There are some things you can do to keep yourself sane and improve application security.

Open source code is everywhere, and it needs to be managed to mitigate security risks. Developers are tasked with creating engaging and reliable applications faster than ever. To achieve this, they rely heavily on open source code to quickly add functionality to their proprietary software. With open source code making up an estimated 60-80% of proprietary applications’ code bases, managing it has become critical to reducing an organization’s security risk.

Software developers build approximately 80% of software applications using open-source code, which opens up a world of opportunity for today’s threat actors. Code package repositories such as npm and RubyGems allow anyone to store or publish packages, and unfortunately that can include packages containing malware. These are known as malicious packages — the malware of the software supply chain. As the name implies, a malicious package is software that is created with malicious intent.

The software bill of materials (SBOM) has become an increasingly important tool for providing much-needed clarity about the components that make up software — both for application security purposes and governmental compliance. Unlike manual spreadsheets, SBOMs standardize everything into a particular format to minimize inconsistencies. There are three primary SBOM formats currently available, which allow companies to easily generate, share, and consume SBOM data.

RSA 2023 is a wrap, but that doesn’t mean we are finished with the annual event. Sharing information, success stories, and lessons learned lies at the heart of RSA. And after a week of talking to attendees and pundits, giving demos, and gleaning knowledge from a slew of sessions, it’s going to take some time to sort through all the treasure from that trove of knowledge. For starters, here are a few of the more noteworthy sessions we saw at the show.

When you’re trying to choose the right application security solution, navigating the options on the market can be bewildering. At Mend.io, we know that software developers and DevOps professionals use multiple tools to identify security issues in different stages of the software delivery life cycle and different code types. And we’re dedicated to making every aspect of AppSec as seamless as possible, which includes making your solution selection as easy as it can be.

Governments everywhere are increasingly concerned about implementing frameworks to improve the protection of personal and commercial information and defend national security against cyberattacks. I was recently in Australia, and it was hard to ignore the news that the Australian government released a discussion paper to shape its work on its 2023 – 2030 cybersecurity strategy.

If there’s one thing we learned in our years of building AppSec technology, it’s that the best tools in the world are useless if they don’t get used. We know from speaking with our customers and industry research that developers won’t use AppSec tools that make their lives harder. Forcing them into cumbersome processes, or making them switch tools and learn a new user interface, will likely lead to AppSec neglect in favor of hitting development deadlines.

We’re delighted to announce that Mend.io has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security Competency status. This designation recognizes that Mend.io has demonstrated proven technology and deep expertise to help customers achieve cloud security goals. It reinforces Mend.io’s position as a trusted member of the AWS Partner Network (APN), which has already been established since we achieved AWS DevOps Competency status.

A new malicious package has been detected on the Node Package Manager (npm) repository that poses a significant threat to users who may unknowingly install it. Named ‘Vibranced,’ the package has been carefully crafted to mimic the popular ‘colors’ package, which has over 20 million weekly downloads.