Mend.io Review

Security

Developers are building the next killer app, using open source components to work smarter as they race towards their release date. In other companies where they may have worked, they would have been taking open source components from places like GitHub without knowing if those components were secure or not.

Just as they neared the finish line, they would have found out that their product was not secure because they had included an open source component with a known vulnerability that hackers could have used to perform remote executions. This means that instead of getting their product out the door on time, the developers will have to burn the midnight oil going in and replacing that component with an alternative, reconfiguring everything else in their code that was dependent on that vulnerable component.

But thankfully those days are over, and the developers are working at a company that uses Mend.io. Using tools like the Web Advisor that tells them whether the component they want to use is secure before they even download, or policy enforcement that would have blocked that vulnerable component from making it into the code in the first place when it didn’t meet their standards, the developers are able to build their product on time with only quality and secure open source components.

License

Imagine raising your seed round and pouring millions of dollars into building your killer product. Your team was smart and used open source components to take care of many of the functions that otherwise would have taken away their focus from that special sauce of your proprietary code.

Unfortunately, in their haste, one of your developers used an open source component with a GPL license that risks turning your entire code into publicly available free software. Now your team has to go back in and rework the code to remove the component with its risky license, and hope that it doesn’t impact the rest of the product too heavily.

If your developers had been using Mend.io, they could have blocked the component from making it into the product, identifying exactly which license it had, and prevent it from entering the build.

Due Diligence before an M&A

Finally, you’ve made it. You poured your blood, sweat, and tears into your startup, and have finally found a buyer. The sale price is set and all that remains is to cross the “t”s and dot the “i”s. But before you can move forward, your buyers want to be sure that they are not putting themselves at risk by taking on your product.

Thankfully, you used Mend.io from the beginning. Since Mend.io is able to identify every open source component that enters your inventory, their SaaS solution can generate an inventory report of every component, showing crucial details such as which licenses they use and if any of them contain known vulnerabilities. Without this continuous monitoring and record keeping, your team would have to scramble to sift through the code and try and come up with a passable list to satisfy the buyers’ concerns that everything is on the up and up with your code.