Chain Reaction: Analyzing Trends and Crafting Defenses Against Software Supply Chain Attacks

This paper comprehensively analyses the software supply chain attack. Software supply chain attacks have increased in frequency and sophistication in recent years and have already caused widespread impact. This paper outlines the anatomy of such attacks, detailing various techniques used at different supply chain stages, from development to software distribution. The paper delves into notable incidents, including the SolarWinds attack and other significant breaches from 2020 to 2023, showing the widespread impact and TTPs and exploring the strategies that could have prevented or minimized the impact. The study uses open-source software supply chain security incident data sets to analyze trends and investigate the root cause and mitigation strategies. By performing thematic and empirical analysis of past incidents, this paper aims to produce critical actionable insights and equip organizations with the knowledge and strategies to mitigate and defend against these software supply chain attacks in the future.