Analysing the software security practices of 130 organisations including Adobe, PayPal and Lenovo, Synopsys’s Building Security in Maturity Model (BSIMM) report has found a nearly 50% surge in activities to secure open source software components and integrate security into developer toolchains; indicating greater initiative to tackle software supply chain security over the last 12 months.
The findings highlight a significant increase in activities that indicate BSIMM member organizations are implementing a “shift everywhere” approach to perform automated and continuous security testing throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and manage risk across their complete application portfolio.
“The BSIMM13 findings suggest that with the attention placed on software supply chains, most enterprise organizations are taking a risk-based approach to application security. Such an approach recognizes that security isn’t limited to the codebase; it includes the process of software development where security reviews and testing ‘shift everywhere’ to continuously improve security outcomes.” said Jason Schmitt, general manager of the Synopsys Software Integrity Group. “The findings also demonstrate that BSIMM member organizations’ software security initiatives are maturing, and they’re now looking for ways to drive the scalability, efficiency and overall effectiveness of their programs.”
Conducted by the Synopsys Software Integrity Group, BSIMM13 highlights evolving trends among member organizations’ software security initiatives over the last 12 months, including:
- Managing Software Supply Chain Risk and the Rise of SBOMs
Likely as a result of recent high-profile supply chain attacks, managing software supply chain risk—most commonly performed through identifying and securing open source software—appears to be a top priority for BSIMM member organizations. BSIMM13 reports a 51% increase in activities associated with controlling open source risk over the last 12 months, as well as a 30% increase in organizations building and maintaining a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) to fully catalog the components within their deployed software.
- Integrating Security into Developer Toolchains
As part of their efforts to “shift everywhere” BSIMM organizations made significant progress in integrating security options into CI/CD pipelines and developer toolchains over the last 12 months. BSIMM13 data notes a 48% growth in activities that enable organizations to include security tests in QA automation.
- Expanding Software Security Beyond Products and Applications
BSIMM13 data also shows tremendous growth in activities that indicate security teams are working with operations to secure software that is not an application—such as automation created for CI/CD— as observations of activities for leveraging operational data for continuous improvement grew by 95% over the last 12 months.
- “Shift Everywhere” with Automated and Continuous Testing
BSIMM13 data reports that 82% of BSIMM member organizations now use automated code review tools—ranking among the top-10 most-observed activities in BSIMM13—which unlocks their ability to perform faster, incremental security tests and identify vulnerabilities as they are introduced throughout the SDLC.
To learn more, download the BSIMM13 Trends & Insights report, or the full-length BSIMM13 Foundations, which provides an in-depth analysis of the data and explores industry-specific trends.
