Most SaaS founders think about security in terms of firewalls, user authentication, and infrastructure protection. But the fastest-growing attack vector isn’t at your perimeter — it’s inside your code.
The modern SaaS product is built on open-source dependencies. Every package you import has its own dependencies, and each of those has more — creating a web of thousands of third-party contributors you’ve effectively given indirect access to your application.
Aaron Bray, CEO of Phylum, calls this “the software supply chain problem.” And it’s not hypothetical — it’s a risk affecting every company that ships code.
Lesson 1: The Hidden Depth of Your Dependencies
A single framework like React doesn’t just add a few files to your repo.
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React + all transitive dependencies can pull in 7,000+ separate packages.
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You’ll never get the exact same set twice — it changes based on other packages you install.
That means you’re not just trusting the React team — you’re trusting thousands of mostly anonymous maintainers scattered across the internet.
Consulting takeaway: If you don’t know exactly what’s in your code, you can’t secure it.
Lesson 2: Attacks Are Already Happening at Scale
Bray points to recent high-profile incidents:
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EventStream compromise: A maintainer’s account was hacked, injecting code that stole cryptocurrency.
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Typo-squatting: Attackers upload malicious packages with names one letter off from popular ones — netting thousands of accidental installs.
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Dependency confusion: Attackers publish packages with the same name as private ones but with a higher version number, tricking automated systems into pulling the malicious version.
For SaaS founders: You may never see the attack coming — but your customers will see the impact.
Lesson 3: Traditional Security Tools Aren’t Enough
Most DevSecOps tools focus on:
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Known vulnerabilities (CVEs)
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Open-source license compliance
Phylum goes deeper — analyzing:
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Author behavior: Has a maintainer abandoned the package? Have they been hacked?
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Code changes over time: Looking for suspicious deviations from normal commit patterns.
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Malicious heuristics: ML models to flag packages that look like known malicious code.
Consulting insight: Vulnerability scanning is table stakes — modern security demands behavioral analysis across your supply chain.
Lesson 4: Machine Learning Without the Buzzword Trap
One reason “AI-powered security” gets a bad rap? Too many tools just sprinkle the term on marketing copy.
Phylum’s approach:
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Use unsupervised learning to detect anomalies — spotting outliers without needing to pre-label every “good” and “bad” example.
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Combine ML with hard-coded heuristics from real-world attacks.
For SaaS teams: The future of secure development is hybrid — part algorithm, part domain expertise.
Lesson 5: Security Is Now a Go-To-Market Conversation
Phylum isn’t just selling to CISOs — they’re designing for the people who implement security:
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Developers
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Security engineers
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DevOps/SRE teams
By building automation-friendly CLI tools and executive-facing dashboards, they’re able to integrate security directly into the software delivery process — not bolt it on after.
Consulting takeaway: If your SaaS sells into technical teams, product adoption depends on fitting into their workflow, not forcing new ones.
Lesson 6: The Future of Supply Chain Security Is Expanding
Bray predicts the next wave of risk and protection will move beyond code to:
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Containers (which have similar dependency chains)
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Internal proprietary code analysis
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Full-spectrum supply chain tracing from internal commits to public dependencies
For SaaS founders: Expect your customers to start asking for proof of supply chain integrity in security questionnaires — and be ready with answers.
Why This Matters for SaaS & Tech Growth
The SaaS market is maturing — and security posture is becoming a competitive differentiator, not just a compliance checkbox.
Companies that can prove they understand and manage their software supply chain risk will:
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Close enterprise deals faster.
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Win customer trust earlier.
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Avoid the reputational and financial damage of preventable breaches.
Ignoring this? It’s not a question of if you’ll have a supply chain incident — it’s when, and how bad.