These days software products rely heavily on open-source components that are associated with the increased security, licensing compliance and quality risks. In this What&Why article, we are going to explain what binary software component analysis is and how important it is to implement it in your business to reduce the risks linked to the use of open source libraries.
What is Binary Software Component Analysis?
Software Component Analysis is a an automated process to identify open source components in a codebase. As soon as a component is identified (scanned), it turns possible to connect that component to known security disclosures and identify known vulnerabilities.
Binary Software Component Analysis is a form of static analysis that deals only with the binary executable of an application without visibility into the source code. Binary Software Component Analysis is used when access to the source code is not possible but there is a need to assess potential vulnerabilities of an application.
The Need for SCA Tools in Organizations
Motivation behind implementation of SCA tool in the organization:
Software Composition Analysis tools generate a complete SBoM that tracks third-party and open source components and identifies known security vulnerabilities, associated licenses, and code quality risks.
The main functions of Software Composition Analysis tools implemented in the organizations:
- Inventory: SCA tools scan the software and provide a detailed report on all the open source components present in your product, involving all direct and transitive dependencies.
- License Compliance: SCA tools provide information on each component once they are identified. a component’s open source license, attribution requirements and compatibility of that license with organization’s policies.
- Security Vulnerabilities: The primaliry function of an SCA tool is to identify open source components with known vulnerabilities.
- Advanced SCA features: Leading SCA tools automate the entire process of open source identification, approval and monitoring. The most advanced SCA tools are even able to alert developers about vulnerabilities in a component before it enters the system which saves developers lots of valuable time.
How can Binaré Help Organizations to Implement Binary SCA?
Binaré offers your business a binary software component analysis tool and here are comparative advantages of our platform:
- Analyzing your firmware’s software components and configuration for vulnerabilities: We provide actionable information for remediation that is considered as a best practice among existing SCA solutions.
- Continuous monitoring of the software components in your firmware: When new vulnerabilities or threats emerge, we notify you immediately (via alert or pipeline integration) so you can act right away.
- Many SCA solutions require source code for their bill-of-materials and vulnerability analysis which is quite often not available to access but Binaré’s platform does not need your source code to perform SCA of your firmware.
“Security is built-in the base of our binary SCA tool rather than added as an afterthought, and this is the way we manage to provide secure components that safety critical industries, such as healthcare and transportation, can rely on”
CEO and Co-Founder of Binaré,
Andrei Costin
Binaré fully supports a binary SCA concept, agrees on its importance and, therefore, offers an automated binary SCA tool that identifies the software components in your IoT device firmware. Come and try our FREE Demo at https://binare.io/. Let us identify the software components in your firmware and give you a detailed technical and engineering report on existing vulnerabilities that will help your business to anticipate emerging risks!
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