Importance of Origin Traceability in Digital Security and Goods Distribution
In the world of industrial automation, provenance plays a crucial role in ensuring the trust, authenticity, and security of hardware and software systems. Provenance refers to the detailed history and origin of components, software, and data throughout their lifecycle—from creation or manufacturing to delivery and deployment.
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides guidance for supply chain cybersecurity through a special publication titled "Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Practices for Systems and Organizations." Similarly, the EU's Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) requires manufacturers of digital products sold in the EU to produce a top-level Software Bill of Materials (SBOM). In the United States, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has its own Hardware Bill of Materials Framework for Supply Chain risk Management.
SBOMs and HBOMs are key tools in cybersecurity that provide transparent inventories of software components and hardware parts within products, respectively. An SBOM lists all the software components, libraries, and dependencies in a product, exposing unknown software dependencies and helping organizations identify and address vulnerabilities, licensing issues, and supply chain risks. An HBOM, on the other hand, catalogs all hardware components, capturing the provenance and supply chain details of physical parts. This visibility helps organizations detect counterfeit or compromised hardware and assess security risks associated with hardware origins and manufacturing processes.
Heavy assets in industrial automation, such as solar and wind farms, batteries, heat pumps, EV chargers, and other assets, can contain undocumented communication devices. These undocumented communication devices can provide additional, undocumented communication channels that could allow firewalls to be circumvented remotely. If these assets have remote access capabilities, which are normally handled through firewalls, the potential cybersecurity risks are significant.
Moreover, provenance is crucial in managing geopolitical risks stemming from the origin of hardware components, which may involve multiple countries and complex supply routes, potentially exposing products to security vulnerabilities or espionage. End users are increasingly reliant on their technology and service partners for their operations. If these partners have poor cyber resilience, it can and will directly affect the operations of the end users.
The White House's 2021 Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity mandated that federal agencies receive SBOMs for software they purchase. This move underscores the importance of provenance in cybersecurity and the supply chain. The story underlines the need for organizations to be aware of the potential cybersecurity risks associated with their assets and to take proactive measures to mitigate these risks. If assets come with features and functions that present a potential cybersecurity risk to an enterprise and the risk is not addressed or is not known, it is ultimately the responsibility of the enterprise, not the vendor.
In conclusion, provenance is more than just the source of origin. It includes the chronology of the origin, development, ownership, location, and changes to a system or system component and associated data. Provenance in cybersecurity and supply chain management is essential for ensuring trust, authenticity, and security by verifying that hardware and software are sourced from reputable, secure, and compliant suppliers. By implementing SBOMs and HBOMs, organizations can gain greater visibility into their supply chains and take proactive measures to mitigate risks and ensure the security of their assets.
- The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) emphasizes the importance of cybersecurity supply chain risk management, providing guidelines to help organizations and systems mitigate risks.
- SBOMs (Software Bill of Materials) and HBOMs (Hardware Bill of Materials) serve as key tools in cybersecurity, offering transparent inventories of software components and hardware parts within products, respectively, aiding in identifying and addressing potential vulnerabilities.
- As provenance encompasses more than the source of origin, it is crucial in cybersecurity and supply chain management to ensure the trust, authenticity, and security of hardware and software systems, especially in the context of geopolitical risks and complex supply routes.
