A great article on SBOMs and the Energy Proof of Concept

Today, Utility Dive published a great article discussing SBOMs, and especially the upcoming Energy Proof of Concept exercise. To be honest, it’s the best article I’ve read yet about SBOMs, and the only one that intelligently describes why the NTIA Software Component Transparency Initiative has latched onto proofs of concept as the primary tool for driving acceptance of SBOMs in the US, and frankly worldwide.

I’ve been quite impressed with how Robert has taken the time to really understand what SBOMs are about, as well as what the Initiative is about. Some reporters take the “Get a quote and end the call” approach to interviews, but that’s not what Robert does.

I’ll let you read the article, but I want to repeat a post that Virginia Wright of INL put on LinkedIn today, as a comment on Allan Friedman’s post calling attention to the UtilityDive article (I do this with her permission):

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is delighted to join with Allan and NTIA, DOE, and multiple energy sector vendors and asset owners to explore the application of SBOM to the enumeration of the energy sector digital supply chain. Your ideas have been an inspiration for the CyTRICS program (http://www.inl.gov/CyTRICS). Thanks, Allan for your tireless advocacy of SBOM and supply chain transparency!

Of course, it’s quite exciting to have INL committing to join the energy Proof of Concept. If you know anything about CyTRICS, you’ll know it can never succeed without SBOMs.

And here's another comment to Allan's post, added by Cheri Caddy, Senior Advisor - Cybersecurity Strategy and Policy at DoE (CESER):  "The Department of Energy is pleased to be a partner in this effort. BOMs are a great way to get to digital subcomponent illumination. Thank you for your leadership, Allan!"

Good stuff happening!

Any opinions expressed in this blog post are strictly mine and are not necessarily shared by any of the clients of Tom Alrich LLC. If you would like to comment on what you have read here, I would love to hear from you. Please email me at tom@tomalrich.com.