[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 41 (Thursday, February 29, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14895-14896]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04235]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY


Winter 2024 CISA SBOM-a-Rama

AGENCY: Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), 
Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

ACTION: Announcement of meeting.

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SUMMARY: CISA will facilitate a public event to build on existing 
community-led work around Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) on specific 
SBOM topics. The goal of this meeting is to help the broader software 
and security community understand the current state of SBOM and what 
efforts have been made by different parts of the SBOM community, 
including CISA-facilitated, community-led work and other activity from 
sectors and governments.

DATES: February 29, 2024, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST.

ADDRESSES: The event will be virtual. Connection and dial-in 
information for this virtual event will be available one week before 
this event at https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/events/sbom-rama-winter-2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allan Friedman, 202-961-4349, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: An SBOM has been identified by the 
cybersecurity community as a key aspect of modern cybersecurity, 
including software security and supply chain security. Executive Order 
(E.O.) 14028 declares that ``the trust we place in our digital 
infrastructure should be proportional to how trustworthy and 
transparent that infrastructure is, and to the consequences we will 
incur if that trust is misplaced.'' \1\ SBOMs play a key role in 
providing this transparency.
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    \1\ E.O. 14028, Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity, 1, 86 FR 
26633 (May 17, 2021).
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    E.O. 14028 defines SBOM as ``a formal record containing the details 
and supply chain relationships of various components used in building 
software.'' \2\ The E.O. further notes that ``software developers and 
vendors often create products by assembling existing open source and 
commercial software components. The SBOM enumerates these components in 
a product.'' \3\ Transparency from SBOMs aids multiple parties across 
the software lifecycle, including software developers, purchasers, and 
operators.\4\ Recognizing the importance of SBOMs in transparency and 
security, and that SBOM evolution and refinement is likely to be most 
effective coming from the community; CISA is facilitating a public 
event which is intended to advance the software and security 
communities' understanding of SBOM creation, use, and implementation 
across the broader technology ecosystem.
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    \2\ Id. at 10(j), 86 FR 26633 at 26646 (May 17, 2021).
    \3\ Ibid.
    \4\ Ibid.
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I. SBOM Background

    The idea of an SBOM is not novel.\5\ It has been discussed and 
explored in the software industry for years, building on industrial and 
supply chain innovations.\6\ Academics identified the potential value 
of a ``software bill of materials'' as far back as 1995,\7\ and 
tracking use of third-party code is a longstanding software best 
practice.\8\
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    \5\ A brief summary of the history of a software bill of 
materials can be found in Carmody, S., Coravos, A., Fahs, G. et al. 
Building resilient medical technology supply chains with a software 
bill of materials. npj Digit. Med. 4, 34 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-021-00403-w.
    \6\ See ``Toyota Supply Chain Management: A Strategic Approach 
to Toyota's Renowned System'' by Ananth V. Iyer, Sridhar Seshadri, 
and Roy Vasher--a work about Edwards Deming's Supply Chain 
Management https://books.google.com/books/about/Toyota_Supply_Chain_Management_A_Strateg.html?id=JY5wqdelrg8C.
    \7\ Leblang D.B., Levine P.H., Software configuration 
management: Why is it needed and what should it do? In: Estublier J. 
(eds) Software Configuration Management Lecture Notes in Computer 
Science, vol. 1005, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (1995).
    \8\ The Software Assurance Forum for Excellence in Code 
(SAFECode), an industry consortium, has released a report on third 
party components that cites a range of standards. Managing Security 
Risks Inherent in the Use of Third-party Components, SAFECode (May 
2017), available at https://www.safecode.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/SAFECode_TPC_Whitepaper.pdf.

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[[Page 14896]]

    Still, SBOM generation and sharing across the software supply chain 
was not seen as a commonly accepted practice in modern software. In 
2018, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
(NTIA) convened the first multistakeholder process to promote software 
component transparency.\9\ Over the subsequent three years, this 
stakeholder community developed guidance to help foster the idea of 
SBOM, including high-level overviews, initial advice on implementation, 
and technical resources.\10\ When the NTIA-initiated, multistakeholder 
process concluded, NTIA noted ``what was an obscure idea became a key 
part of the global agenda around securing software supply chains.'' 
\11\ In July 2022, CISA facilitated eight public listening sessions 
around four open topics (two for each topic): Cloud & Online 
Applications, Sharing & Exchanging SBOMs, Tooling & Implementation, and 
On-ramps & Adoption.\12\ These public listening sessions resulted in 
the formation of four public, community-led workstreams around each of 
the four topics. The groups have been convening on a weekly basis since 
August 2022. More information can be found at https://cisa.gov/SBOM.
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    \9\ National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
(NTIA), Notice of Open Meeting, 83 FR. 26434 (June 7, 2018).
    \10\ Ntia.gov/SBOM.
    \11\ NTIA, Marking the Conclusion of NTIA's SBOM Process (Feb. 
9, 2022), https://www.ntia.doc.gov/blog/2022/marking-conclusion-ntia-s-sbom-process.
    \12\ Public Listening Sessions on Advancing SBOM Technology, 
Processes, and Practices, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/06/01/2022-11733/public-listening-sessions-on-advancing-sbom-technology-processes-and-practices.
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    CISA believes that the concept of SBOM and its implementation would 
benefit from further refinement, and that a broad-based community 
effort can help scale and operationalize SBOM implementation. To 
support such a community effort to advance SBOM technologies, 
processes, and practices, CISA facilitated the 2023 CISA SBOM-a-Rama. 
The Winter 2024 SBOM-a-Rama will build on the 2023 event to offer 
updates as well as present new discussion topics for consideration by 
the community.

II. Topics for CISA SBOM-a-Rama

    The goal of this meeting is to help the broader software and 
security community understand the current state of SBOM and what 
efforts have been made by different parts of the SBOM community, 
including CISA-facilitated, community-led work and other activity from 
sectors and governments. Attendees are invited to ask questions, share 
comments, and raise further issues that need attention. Specific 
presentations will be made on the community-led efforts around sharing 
SBOMs, cloud and online applications, tools and implementation, the 
Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange (VEX) model, and SBOM on-ramps 
and adoption. The event will also feature presentations and discussions 
on sector efforts around the world. CISA will also facilitate 
conversations on how the community can most efficiently make progress 
in addressing gaps in the SBOM ecosystem.
    A full agenda will be posted in advance of the meeting at https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/events/sbom-rama-winter-2024.

III. Participation in the SBOM-a-Rama

    This event is open to anyone. CISA welcomes participation from 
anyone interested in learning about the current state of SBOM practice 
and implementation including private sector practitioners, policy 
experts, academics, and representatives from non-U.S. organizations. 
Additional information, including the meeting link, will be available 
one week before the meeting date at https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/events/sbom-rama-winter-2024.
    This notice is issued under the authority of 6 U.S.C. 652(c)(10)-
(11) and 6 U.S.C. 659(c)(4).

Eric Goldstein,
Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and 
Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2024-04235 Filed 2-28-24; 8:45 am]
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