Generating SBOMs with SCA Tools

Modern SCA tools automate SBOM generation, eliminating manual documentation burden. Build-time generation integrates with CI/CD pipelines, creating SBOMs alongside application artifacts. This approach ensures SBOMs reflect actual build outputs rather than declared dependencies. Runtime generation analyzes deployed applications, capturing dynamically loaded components missed during static analysis. Container scanning generates SBOMs for complete container images, including base OS, system packages, and application dependencies.

# Example: Generating SBOM with Different Tools

# Syft (Open Source)
syft packages dir:/path/to/app -o cyclonedx-json > sbom.json

# Snyk 
snyk test --json | snyk-to-cyclonedx > sbom.json

# CycloneDX CLI
cyclonedx-npm --output-format json --output-file sbom.json

# SPDX Tools
spdx-sbom-generator -p /path/to/app -f json

Configuration depth significantly impacts SBOM value. Minimal SBOMs listing component names and versions provide basic inventory. Comprehensive SBOMs include vulnerability data, license details, hash values for integrity verification, and dependency relationships. Configure SCA tools to capture metadata relevant to your use cases while avoiding excessive detail that complicates management. Balance completeness with practicality based on stakeholder needs.