Modern software is built on countless small building blocks such as NPM packages. Most of them come from open-source ecosystems that everyone relies on but very few people truly see. When one of those building blocks turns malicious, it does not just affect developers. It affects every organisation that runs the software built on top of it.
NPM packages are the small components that power a huge part of today’s applications. Even if your team is not writing code, the tools and services you use almost certainly depend on them. They sit deep in frameworks, build tools, automation scripts and production applications, which is why they are so widely trusted.
Software under attack
That trust was exploited when researchers discovered malware hidden inside NPM packages with more than two billion weekly downloads. Once installed, these packages began collecting credentials and sensitive environment data, often from CI pipelines and build systems that had no reason to suspect anything was wrong.
This kind of attack succeeds because many delivery processes are not designed with supply-chain risk in mind. Pipelines grow organically over time. Environments are created manually without clear standards. Secrets sit in configuration files or variables rather than a vault. And Infrastructure as Code is only partially in place or missing entirely. In that situation a malicious dependency can slip through development, CI, container images and production with almost no friction.
Prevent and detect
The path forward starts with consistency. Infrastructure as Code creates predictable environments instead of one-off configurations. GitHub and Azure DevOps pipelines provide controlled release paths with approvals, secret management and automated scanning. Once those fundamentals are in place, detecting and preventing supply-chain attacks becomes far more realistic.
We explored this shift from ad-hoc operations to structured DevOps practices in our recent article on reducing cloud drift and bringing discipline back into the delivery process.
If you want to understand your own exposure and what to improve first, our DevOps and cloud assessments can help. They provide a structured look at your pipelines, environments and risks, along with a practical roadmap to strengthen your software supply chain. In a world where a single compromised dependency can affect millions of systems, taking control of your delivery chain is essential.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to the cloud. That’s why we meet you where you are. Are you ready to transform your DevOps practices? Contact us today to start your journey with DevOps Masterminds.