The use of third-party code in enterprise software projects is growing fast, but the used code often has known flaws Companies that develop enterprise applications download over 200,000 open-source components on average every year and one in every 16 of those components has security vulnerabilities. This is indicative of the poor state of the software supply chain, a problem that’s only getting worse with the increased reliance on third-party code combined with bad software inventory practices. According to software development lifecycle firm Sonatype, third-party components account for 80 percent to 90 percent of the code found in a typical enterprise application today. The number of downloads from the largest largest public repository of open-source Java components reached 31 billion last year, a 82 percent increase over 2014, the company found. Sonatype runs the hosting infrastructure for the Central Repository, the default repository for Apache Maven, SBT and other Java software building tools. The company does not police what goes in and out of the repository; that task falls to the community of open source developers who contribute components to it. The average company downloads more than 229,000 components annually, but only around 5,000 of them are unique, Sonatype said in its State of Software Supply Chain report released Monday. Of those downloaded components, 1 in 16 has security defects. This is reflected in production too. An analysis of 25,000 enterprise applications revealed that 6.8 percent of the components used in them had at least one known vulnerability. Components that are over two years old account for 80 percent of the risk, but unfortunately they also represent over half of all components used in applications. Sonatype estimates that it would cost an enterprise with 2,000 applications about US$7.4 million to remediate only 10 percent of the defects and vulnerabilities introduced by consuming components. Supply chain management practices that are common in other industries, such as manufacturing,would help software developers reduce their maintenance costs considerably. These include doing a strict selection of component suppliers, choosing only the highest quality components and tracking when and where those components were used. Related content how-to How to print from the Linux command line: double-sided, landscape and more There's a lot more to printing from the Linux command line than the lp command. Check out some of the many available options. By Sandra Henry Stocker Jun 11, 2024 6 mins Linux news Netskope secures SaaS apps with genAI Enhancements to Netskope’s cloud access security broker (CASB) module aim to secure the use of genAI and SaaS applications. By Denise Dubie Jun 11, 2024 4 mins SASE Generative AI Cloud Access Security Broker news Fortinet grabs cloud security player Lacework Fortinet will integrate Lacework's technology across its secure access service edge (SASE) and Security Fabric packages. By Michael Cooney Jun 10, 2024 3 mins Remote Access Security Cloud Computing news Cisco steps up full-stack observability play with Splunk tie-ins Work has already begun to integrate Splunk, AppDynamics, and ThousandEyes as Cisco strengthens its observability lineup. By Michael Cooney Jun 07, 2024 5 mins Network Management Software Networking PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe