Lessons from SolarWinds: Securing the Software Supply Chain

With the rise in the business impact of software vulnerabilities, software supply chain security became one of the most vital aspects of the business today. Having knocked the world on its backside, we’ve all witnessed how nobody was too big to your know what and it served as a wake up call on the threats to our software supply chain.

What Was the SolarWinds Breach?

Before we continue, let’s take a brief look into the SolarWinds breach. You have data until October 2023 You wake up one day and find that your trusted software update channel is being weaponized by insiders. This was no nightmare but reality for SolarWinds, a management IT company.

• Nation-state actors hacked SolarWinds’ Orion software.
• They embedded malicious code into the software updates.
• This provided them a previously unseen access window into thousands of organizations — including Fortune 500 companies and government agencies — without them being aware of it.

The breach was undetected for months. That made it clear how vulnerable our software supply chain can be and the harm that can result if it isn’t protected.

The Vulnerabilities in Software Supply Chains

The software supply chain is complicated, and it can be comprised of many vendors, third parties, and integration points. This complexity in such a system leads to a number of vulnerabilities:

• Blind Spot: Most of the time businesses don’t have a full understanding of the parts in their software supply chain.
• Third-party risks — Sourcing through third parties can create security holes.
• Weak security hygiene: Weak or outdated security protocols can leave the door open to attackers.

Without audit & monitoring, anomalies can pass completely unnoticed. Since supply chain is tightly interconnected, one weak part causes worrying ripple effects that can be deadly to many stakeholders at the same time.

Key Lessons for Businesses

If your business provides tech solutions to rent, like firewalls, servers, and routers, there’s much to learn from the SolarWinds event:

• Know your software supply chain and map it: From every piece of component, to every vendor. This clarity aids in identifying potential weak links.
• Use a zero trust model: No component/endpoint should be trusted until proven trustworthy.
• Frequent updates and patches: Do light years ahead by updated software and all components with the last amount of security patches.
• Encourage communication and transparency: Make routine reporting of security hygiene and breaches a requirement of vendors.

Businesses should take these lessons in mind to strengthen defences and manage the risks in their supply chains.

A Cybersecurity Strengthening Your Defenses

Now, instead of responding to this breach and what it means, let’s respond with how can you better secure your business against incidents like this if you are using rented IT infrastructure:

Fortify the Software Supply Chain

• Vendor Assessment:
  • Assess organization security practices of vendors.
  • Ensure they are industry standard compliant.
• Supply Chain Audits:
  • Perform regular audits on your software supply chain.
  • No surprises that may be a threat
• Security Training:
  • Employees should be trained to identify phishing, social engineering and other cyber threats.
  • Ensure training programs are updated with new threat vectors.
• Adopt Secure Coding Practices:
  • Promote secure coding practices among developers
  • Use static and dynamic analysis tools to integrate detecting vulnerabilities early in the way.

Hardened Infrastructure as a Service

• Firewalls & Routers:
  • Consider providers who prioritize safety in their rentals
  • A solid configuration to prevent against unauthorised access
• Regular Testing:
  • Perform penetration testing.
  • Use vulnerability scans to identify potential problems before they become exploited.

Advocate for Ongoing Monitoring

• Detection of Threats Automatically:
  • Use artificial intelligence and machine validated determination tools, for real-time threat discovery.
• Read and Understand Logs:
  • Review your logs for suspicious activity.
  • Leverage this information to bolster defenses.

Validate and Respond

• Rapid Response:
  • Create a Plan for Incident Response
  • Make sure your team is prepared and knows what to do quickly.
• Post-Incident Analysis:
  • Perform a root-cause analysis post-breach or post-alert.
  • Use these learnings to further lock down security defenses.

A well-rounded approach helps fortify your defenses. Assess all tiers of your software supply chain and lease hardware, to create an ironclad defensive system that will withstand the nuances of modern cyber attack.

Conclusion

And the cybersecurity community cannot ignore the vulnerabilities that were exposed through the SolarWinds breach — vulnerabilities in software supply chains. Caution and proactive measures are a must for businesses renting out security-sensitive hardware. First-class cyber defense is about being ready, always maintained and resilient. Increase the stakes, though, and you have the same potential hazardous environment, where the risks can be learned from the repeated incidents you may have heard of and use to fortify your defenses. With a multi-layered approach, a zero tolerance policy on our vendor assessment, and a watchful eye, we can continue to secure our software supply chains against future breaches.