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Security Intermediate

What is Supply Chain Attack?

A cyberattack that targets less-secure elements in the software supply chain to compromise downstream users and organizations.

Supply chain attacks compromise software before it reaches end users by targeting dependencies, build systems, or distribution channels. Examples include typosquatting (malicious packages with similar names on PyPI/npm), compromised maintainer accounts, backdoored updates (SolarWinds attack), and poisoned CI/CD pipelines. Defense measures include pinning dependency versions, using lock files, verifying package signatures, scanning dependencies for known vulnerabilities (npm audit, pip-audit, Snyk), using private package registries, implementing Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), and practicing least-privilege in build systems. The Log4Shell vulnerability demonstrated how a single dependency can impact millions of applications.

Related Terms

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
A security method requiring two different forms of identification before granting access to an account.
SAST (Static Application Security Testing)
Automated analysis of source code to find security vulnerabilities without executing the application.
Certificate Pinning
A security technique that associates a host with its expected TLS certificate or public key, preventing man-in-the-middle attacks with fraudulent certificates.
OWASP Top 10
A regularly updated list of the ten most critical web application security risks, published by the Open Web Application Security Project.
Content Security Policy (CSP)
An HTTP security header that controls which resources a browser is allowed to load for a web page, preventing XSS and data injection.
Phishing
A social engineering attack that uses fraudulent communications to trick people into revealing sensitive information or installing malware.
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