If you've been following my recent articles, I've been writing about different pieces of DevSecOps on AWS — from Amazon Inspector for scanning, Container Signing for integrity, to Security Hub for centralized visibility.
So why am I talking about SBOM now?
Because SBOM is what ties all of these together.
What is SBOM?
SBOM — Software Bill of Materials — is basically a list of all third-party libraries your application uses. That's it. Nothing fancy.
Why does this matter?
Think about when Log4j happened. Teams everywhere were scrambling to answer one question: "Do we use this library?" For those who had an SBOM, the answer was quick. For those who didn't, it took days or even weeks to figure out.
Beyond incidents, SBOM also helps during audits. When someone asks "what's inside your software?", you have the documentation ready.
How SBOM Ties Everything Together
SBOM has known formats — CycloneDX and SPDX are the common ones. With these standard formats, you can integrate with other security tools that support it.
This is where the connection happens:
Amazon Inspector can generate SBOM in these formats. So after scanning your containers and code, you also get a list of what's inside. Container Signing verifies that the image hasn't been tampered with. Security Hub gives you visibility across all findings.
Put it together: you know what's inside your software (SBOM), it's been scanned for vulnerabilities (Inspector), it's signed and verified (Container Signing), and you can monitor everything from one place (Security Hub).
SBOM is the glue that makes all of this make sense.
Closing
For me, SBOM completes the picture. It's not a tool you interact with daily, but it's the foundation that connects your scanning, signing, and monitoring together.
If you're building a DevSecOps practice, understanding SBOM is part of knowing your stuff.
I think that's it for now for this article. Leave a comment below about your thoughts! Thanks.
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