Software supply chain

Have you ever played with LEGO blocks? Imagine that you want to build something big, but you don't have all the blocks you need. You ask your friends to bring some blocks over to your house, and they do. Now, you have all the blocks you need to build your creation.

Software supply chain works in a similar way. People who make software programs (like apps or games) often use other software programs made by different people, just like you used your friend's LEGO blocks. These programs are called "dependencies." Software supply chain is the process of getting all the necessary dependencies together to create a software program.

Now, imagine that instead of just your friends bringing over blocks, they asked their own friends to bring blocks too. Your pool of blocks would become larger, but you'd also have to trust those extra people to bring good blocks that won't break or ruin your creation.

Software supply chains can work that way too. Sometimes, software developers use dependencies made by other developers who have also used dependencies from even more developers. These chains of dependencies can become very long and complicated, and it becomes important to trust that each dependency is safe, secure, and won't break the final software program.

That's where something called "software supply chain security" comes in. Just like you would check each block to make sure it's good enough to use in your creation, software developers use tools to check each dependency for security issues and other problems before using it in their program. This helps make sure that the final software program is safe for people to use.