Managing Security and Regulatory Compliance for C/C++: A Pragmatic Approach

The C and C++ codebases that power many applications are often extraordinarily difficult to secure and govern. Unlike ecosystems with mature package managers and centralized registries, C/C++ software often arrives through vendor SDKs, copy-pasted libraries, forked repositories, and decades of accumulated technical debt. This makes it challenging to know what you're shipping, let alone the associated security or compliance risks.

At the same time, the EU's CRA, the FDA's cybersecurity rules, and a host of other regulations are pushing organizations to prove software transparency across the full supply chain.

In this session, FOSSA's Director of Product Management Cortez Frazier Jr. will discuss strategies for gaining visibility into your C/C++ codebases, managing security and compliance risks, and maintaining accurate SBOMs. We'll also share recommendations based on how our current customers are addressing these challenges. Finally, we'll highlight several new product capabilities that assist in accurate component detection and risk management.

Key takeaways will include:

• The technical reasons why C/C++ challenges traditional SCA tooling
• Common mistakes security and compliance programs make in managing C/C++
• Practical patterns for integrating security and compliance tooling into development workflows
• How FOSSA's multi-layered detection strategy supports customers