Whitepaper
What is a SaaSBOM?
A SaaSBOM (Software-as-a-Service Bill of Materials) is an extension of the traditional Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), specifically designed to provide visibility into all services used by an application, system or cloud-native software. A service is any software that is accessed over a network, including third-party APIs, data processing pipelines, cloud services, libraries, authentication providers, and any other service-level dependency that could impact security or availability.
Why is a SaaSBOM Important?
Modern software rarely operates as a self-contained unit, instead, it interacts with other services and networked resources. These interactions introduce risks beyond vulnerabilities within the software code, such as unprotected data exchanges, insecure API calls, and service misconfigurations, and rising attacks on third-party SaaS providers and service dependencies.
SaaSBOMs provide the visibility needed to mitigate these service-based risks as well as support third-party software risk management, compliance, incident response, and vendor security evaluations.
There are several scenarios where a SaaSBOM provides additional insight that providers and consumers of software and services would find valuable:
- Cloud-native systems composed of internal and third-party services or microservices
- Web applications that depend on third party services to integrate necessary functions such as authentication, payment, or federated access to other services
- Applications running on desktops, mobile, or other edge devices that access third party services to function
- Thin clients which are primarily made up of API calls to access services hosted in a secure environment
- Shadow IT where employees or business units are using SaaS applications without the knowledge or approval of the organization
How Does a SaaSBOM Work?
SaaSBOMs are typically generated through a combination of:
- API discovery and inventory mapping
- Cloud monitoring tools (e.g., CSPM)
- Vendor disclosures and documentation
- Integration with IT asset management or SaaS management platforms (SMPs)
- Application or binary scanning
SaaSBOM can include information about :
- The service provider
- Endpoint URIs
- Data classifications
- Directional flow of data
- Authentication requirements
- Trust boundary traversal
- Licenses
- Service dependencies
Business Benefits of a SaaSBOM
- Data Security Assurance: Understand where sensitive data is stored and processed.
- Compliance Readiness: Support for regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2.
- Procurement Due Diligence: Validate vendor security claims before onboarding.
- Incident Response Acceleration: Map blast radius of SaaS incidents quickly.
SaaSBOM vs Other Related Topics
How to Limit Attacks Using a SaaSBOM
- Third-Party Risk Scoring: Prioritize vendors based on exposure and vulnerability.
- Policy Enforcement: Restrict access to unauthorized or unmanaged SaaS tools.
- Dependency Chain Monitoring: Track updates and vulnerabilities across services.
- Zero Trust Validation: Validate identities and policies across all service links.
- Incident Detection & Response: Monitor the network traffic from the organization to third-party services for anomalies.
SaaSBOM Use Cases
- SaaS Vendor Security Reviews: Evaluate third-party SaaS providers by mapping their dependencies, integrations, and potential security exposures.
- Data Governance and Mapping: Identify where sensitive data is stored, processed, or transmitted across all SaaS platforms to maintain control and compliance.
- Shadow IT Detection: Uncover unauthorized or unmanaged SaaS usage to reduce risk and enforce corporate IT policies.
- Regulatory Reporting: Generate accurate records of SaaS dependencies and data flows to support audits and compliance with frameworks like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2.
- Security Questionnaires and Customer Audits: Respond to customer and partner security assessments with detailed, verifiable SaaS component inventories.
- Incident Detection & Response: Detect and anomalous network traffic to internal and external services.
Additional SaaSBOM Considerations
- Dynamic Environments: SaaS applications, endpoint URLs, and APIs can change rapidly—SaaSBOMs must be continuously updated.
- Data Access Transparency:.Service usage can embedded in transitive microservices or software dependencies, making it difficult to obtain a comprehensive view of data flows.
- Tooling Maturity: SaaSBOM tools are still maturing; integration with broader asset management is essential.
- Privacy Implications: Be mindful of tenant-specific data and customer boundaries when creating or sharing a SaaSBOM.