Securing the Software Supply Chain: The Rise of FIPS-Validated and STIG-Hardened Container Images in Regulated Industries
Executive Overview In the modern enterprise software lifecycle, security teams are no longer responsible solely for custom application code. They must account for every foundational layer, operating system dependency, cryptographic library, build provenance record, and inherited vulnerability introduced into a deployment via base images. For regulated software engineering teams—ranging from federal agencies and defense contractors…