Secure Software Development: Streamlining Process Importance

Protect Software Development: Streamlining Process Importance

Security must remain at the forefront of every stage of the software development life cycle (SDLC), from initial requirements gathering through to implementation and production.

In this article, we explore how you can ensure a more secure SDLC process by identifying issues before they become security risks in production environments.

Security problems should be identified early in the SDLC pipeline and resolved before being deployed into production, decreasing your chances of discovering security flaws in your application and lessening their impact when detected.

Secure SDLC seeks to empower developers by embedding security into their responsibilities for developing secure apps.


Why is Secure SDLC Significant?

Why is Secure SDLC Significant?

Security should always be top of mind in SDLC because applications are so crucial. No longer is it sufficient to release a product and then address security vulnerabilities with subsequent patches; developers now must be mindful of security concerns at every stage.

Integrate security into your SDLC in ways never possible before; program with vulnerabilities in mind, as anyone could gain access to source code at any point during development and keep hackers and malicious users away. A robust SDLC process ensures your app does not become a victim of attacks by hackers and other attackers.


SDLC: An Introduction

Software Development Life Cycle of SDLC outlines the process of software creation from start to finish and typically comprises these phases:

  1. Gather and Analyze Requirements of Design.
  2. New features developed based on customer requirements
  3. Writing code to meet new requirements (developing capabilities).
  4. Testing and validating new capabilities, verifying that they meet requirements.
  5. Launch of a new project.
  6. Once a product is out on the market, its maintenance and improvement remain key priorities.

The waterfall is an SDLC methodology that established its phases. While these phases were developed back in 1970, much has changed since.

Software engineering practices are evolving quickly now!

The software was traditionally written to meet the specific requirements of complex applications, using a Waterfall development methodology that took years before finally reaching release.

Modern practices strive to accelerate innovation while still producing top-quality software; most organizations now prefer agile SDLC methods - first published back in 2001 - instead.

Agile development is a software development strategy that prioritizes breaking large monolithic releases down into mini-releases over several weeks; each sprint lasts for two or three weeks with automation used for the creation and testing of applications, and companies can make changes more rapidly using Agile Methodology.

Agile is more concerned with incremental software building rather than waterfall applications large deployments that often occur once every three to six years.


SDLC and Application Security

Security concerns? In 1970, most attacks against computer applications were carried out physically accessing terminals running them; external actors were, therefore, less likely to compromise the security of applications; SDLC processes became less concerned with this as new methodologies for software development emerged over time.

Application security has increasingly become the responsibility of IT teams that support applications. At first, only applications recently released were tested before deployment - usually once every year in production environments - which left any vulnerabilities "out there in the wild" open for attackers to exploit for weeks and even months after release.

Over time, however, many companies also perform pre-release testing as an add-on to production testing via their Critical Release Path, where applications must pass supplementary tests prior to being deployed into production environments.

Security testing processes often take multiple weeks, delaying new releases by several weeks or longer. Furthermore, their outcome cannot be predicted: any security test could reveal several flaws which need correcting within several days or hundreds that require significant code modifications and may necessitate replacing entire components altogether.

Application developers often fall behind schedule by several weeks when trying to keep pace with impossible release dates, creating considerable tension within organizations and forcing companies to choose between "signing off on risk" by releasing vulnerable applications or meeting expectations and failing to deliver services (or both!).

Furthermore, fixing an issue discovered late can cost up to 100x more than finding it early enough in the SDLC process.

All these issues have only worsened as innovation and software products have advanced at an ever-faster pace, prompting companies to reconsider the role of security within software SDLC processes and implement effective safeguards against potential breaches.

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What is the Secure Software Development Lifecycle Process?

What is the Secure Software Development Lifecycle Process?

The implementation of SDLC affects every phase of software development. As part of your implementation plan, security should always be in mind, and issues should be raised as early in development as possible; doing so is more cost-effective and time efficient than waiting until deployed applications exhibit security problems; security forms an integral component of SDLC.

Security considerations and tasks vary based on each stage in the SDLC life cycle.


Secure Software Development Lifecycle in 5 Phases

Secure Software Development Lifecycle in 5 Phases

A software development life cycle (SDLC) comprises different phases that each contribute to ensuring its security and integrity, each phase being approached differently; one thing remains constant; however, software security must always remain top of mind during every development lifecycle phase.

As an example of how secure SDLC practices could be implemented when building a renewal portal:


Requirements

This stage collects new feature requests from various stakeholders. When gathering functional requirements for any new release, security should always be kept top of mind.

An example of a functional requirement would include being able to verify their contact details prior to renewing their membership.

Sample security concern: Users should only be able to see their own contact details, not anyone elses.


The Second Stage Involves Designing

At this phase, an in-scope requirement is translated into an implementation plan for how it should appear within your app.

Functional requirements define desired outcomes, while security criteria identify undesirable ones.

One such security concern involves checking for and authenticating user session tokens before retrieving data from databases in case their token does not present itself when retrieving.

Otherwise, they would be directed back to the login screen requiring registration before access can resume.


The Third Phase Is Development

As soon as it comes time to implement and create the actual design, attention turns toward making sure that code written follows security best practices.

Code reviews serve to ensure this. These may be either manual or automated using technologies like static application testing (SAST).

Modern applications rely heavily on open-source components that provide existing functionality, often for free, in order to quickly add features to an organization.

Over 90% of modern apps utilize some form of Open Source Module -- the vast majority using Software Composition Analysis Tools (SCA).

  1. Secure Coding Guidelines may apply in such an instance.
  2. Use parameterized, read-only SQL to access data stored in your database and reduce the chance that someone could hijack these queries.
  3. Validate input before processing data
  4. Data delivered from databases should be cleansed prior to being transmitted outward.
  5. Before using open-source libraries, they should be checked for security vulnerabilities.

Verification

In Phase 4, applications are thoroughly evaluated against their original requirements and design to make sure that they satisfy both.

Automated security testing using various technologies should also take place now as this phase only permits deployment once these tests have been successfully passed; tools like Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment are included here, as CI/CD can assist in verifying and releasing software applications successfully.

Verification Phase Contents- This phase typically covers tests designed to automate critical path functionality within an application.

Automated unit tests of software applications to verify correctness.

Automation tools that replace application secrets dynamically during production environments.


Maintenance & Evolution

Once an application has been released for public consumption, maintenance, and evolution remain key components. After its debut, vulnerabilities could still exist within it--not only within its source code written by developers themselves but also with open-source components used as building blocks.

Development teams must then identify vulnerabilities within applications and address them accordingly, which may involve significant rewriting of functionality in certain apps.

Vulnerabilities may originate either through external penetration testing conducted by ethical hackers or submitted from members of the public via "bug bounty programs." For future releases, it is crucial that production issues be anticipated and addressed appropriately.


Benefits of Secure SDLC

SSDLC employs the "shift left" approach in its development of security issues measures within SDLC projects as early as possible.

SSDLC assists developers in planning releases appropriately while making it simpler to identify any problems as soon as they arise.

Ahead of time, releases are always best when possible - SDLC keeps this release schedule on track!

SDLC is a system in which the team that created software leads the efforts to secure it instead of leaving this to another team to manage on an as-needed basis.

Security testing done as part of SDLC may seem cumbersome and expensive to implement; however, much of it has now become automated through DevOps (or development operations; see further below).

Collaboration should be built into SDLC as an integral element. DevOps should work directly with developers of applications to provide secure SDLC. This should include working closely together on applications during each stage of development for optimal results.

Reduced Total Cost of Ownership in Application Development by Solving Issues Early (TCOA). As shown by this chart, the discovery of issues later will multiply costs 100-fold!

As shown in Figure 2, an effective SDLC allows development teams to build more quickly secure applications - an investment well worth making!


Why and How Should SSDLC Be Enforced?

For secure SDLC to exist, both app developers and its end-users need to pay careful attention to its function and implementation into code.

As your application evolves over time, security must remain top of mind throughout your team - this may necessitate changing cultural attitudes as well as automating processes throughout every phase of the development process.

SDLC procedures that are applicable across applications can be challenging to identify due to team strengths and weaknesses being essential components.

As creating a secure SDLC involves not only changing processes and tools but also affecting culture change within various teams, the journey towards establishing an efficient SDLC can differ significantly between companies or business units.

Read More: Find Out How You Can Influence The Software Development


Secure SDLC Best Practices

Secure SDLC Best Practices

It Is Crucial That Developers Receive

Adequate education regarding SDLC, SDLC has many initiatives associated with it, including:

  1. Create Secure Coding Guidelines.
  2. Security posture awareness training and secure programming practices for developers.
  3. Establish clear expectations regarding how quickly production-related issues must be remedied (known as remediation SLAs).
  4. Not every aspect needs to come true for your SDLC to succeed; rather, like with a puzzle, pieces must come together over time until the whole picture emerges.

Clarify Requirements

What you produce should be easy for all members of the development team to comprehend, and easily implemented requirements are crucial in providing guidance, advice, or recommendations relating to security guidelines or testing findings.

All people, tools, and processes involved must contribute solutions as opposed to simply pointing at problems that need solving.


Adopt An Open Mindset

SSDLC will transform how multiple teams collaborate. Therefore, everyone enters this experience with an open mindset.

In particular, security teams should foster an enabling culture within which developers have full authority to secure their applications themselves.


Integrate Implementation With Other Initiatives

For established teams and applications, SDLC implementation may be easier if combined with another modernization effort - such as DevOps project implementation, cloud infrastructure transformation, or its security-focused version DevSecOps.


Prioritize Big Issues

Instead of trying to address all vulnerabilities at the same time, prioritizing only those most critical can save both time and resources in fixing all existing ones.

Fixing smaller, newer applications might allow addressing every vulnerability; older apps require something called triage, which works similarly by both addressing issues before production begins as well as triaging existing vulnerabilities over time.


SDLC and DevSecOps

Understanding DevSecOps is crucial, yet confusing terms like these should never be used interchangeably. SSDLC and DevSecOps share similarities yet are complementary - each seeks to empower developers by giving them greater ownership of their applications as well as ensuring more than simply writing code to meet functional specs.

DevSecOps seeks to move production environments away from IT departments and into developers hands so they may focus on automating build, test, and release processes as much as possible.

DevSecOps and DevOps have revolutionized software development. Cloud technology also greatly contributed to this shift.

Although providing developers with faster security testing is key for todays companies success, organizations shouldnt view application security only in terms of automation solutions; cultural change must occur early on to raise security awareness early in development cycles - whether this practice be SSDLC or DevSecOps!


Secure Your Future

Traditional security testing practices of software applications during production no longer suffice in protecting them against attack; new types of attacks have surfaced as technology progresses and software industry sectors continue to change and grow.

To create and deploy secure apps, each stage must be protected - this may involve asking about security-oriented behavior at requirements gathering sessions, adapting team culture or practice to reflect a security mindset, or shifting practices towards safety-first practices.

SSDLC facilitates a shift to the left when it comes to security risks, meaning you can address security concerns at their source during the requirements phase rather than having to come back later in the maintenance phase.

You can be certain your application will become more secure by prioritizing security throughout its development process.

As software threats continue to evolve, developing secure software has never been more of an uphill struggle - yet its importance cannot be understated.

More software attacks are making headlines than ever. We have put together ten best practices for software development to protect companies against cyber-attacks - here is our top list.

Before writing any code, plan how you will incorporate security in every phase of SDLC and automate testing and monitoring for vulnerabilities from day one.

Integrating security into both code development and company culture is a vitally important consideration.


Create a Secure Software Development Policy

To guarantee secure software development, your team, technology, and processes should follow this policy document to guide their efforts in each stage of the software development life cycle (SDLC) with specific guidelines on implementing security at each step along with roles/governing rules to reduce vulnerability risks associated with development projects.


Make use of NIST SSDF

This framework has proven its worth many times over, helping teams abide by best software practices and new developers answer "What should we do next?".

All new developers may gain from such guidance.


Software Security Can Be Improved Through Best Practices

Identify all security requirements and hire software developers in secure coding practices to meet them.

Lastly, be certain that vendors understand your security demands and comply accordingly.


Code Integrity Protection

To safeguard code against any attempted modification or manipulation, store all documents securely. Only authorized personnel should access such repositories and regulate contact with them while closely tracking any changes and signing processes to preserve their integrity.


Test And Review Code As Early As Possible

As soon as possible in an SDLC process, begin testing and reviewing code as early as possible to avoid waiting until completion to detect vulnerabilities and flaws in it.

Early identification saves both time and money while alleviating frustration for developers.


Be Prepared for Unanticipated Vulnerabilities

Software development introduces vulnerabilities into code at every turn; their appearance cannot be avoided. Be ready with plans and procedures in place to deal with incidents quickly when they arise - the sooner vulnerabilities are recognized and taken care of quickly, the shorter their window for exploitation.


Configure Secure Default Settings

Customers remain vulnerable when learning how to use their software for the first time; adding customer service support ensures protection during these early phases.


Utilize action checklists

Securing software development involves many responsibilities to monitor and track. Utilizing action checklists in regular meetings, such as monthly or weekly, to keep all security policies and procedures up to date can assist your team with this endeavor.


Remain Agile and Proactive

Smart software developers systematically investigate vulnerabilities--tracing back their source, spotting patterns, and preventing repeat occurrences while updating their SDLC with enhanced knowledge.

Furthermore, they stay abreast of industry trends and best practices- "Keeping current with industry trends and best practices; these things change often - no matter your approach security-wise always look ahead at what lies ahead as learning more ways of protecting software development processes is imperative."

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Conclusion of Article

The traditional practice of testing your application for security vulnerabilities during production alone no longer suffices in terms of protecting it, given how cybercrime attacks have evolved alongside software industry growth.

To deploy and maintain a secure app, each stage must be secured before development even starts; ask questions regarding security behavior at the requirements gathering stage to help shape team culture in accordance with security-oriented mentalities and practices.

SSDLC facilitates a shift to the left in terms of security risk. You can then address security concerns at their source during the requirements phase rather than having to return for maintenance later.

By prioritizing security throughout the development process, you can ensure your application will become more secure over time.


References

  1. 🔗 Google scholar
  2. 🔗 Wikipedia
  3. 🔗 NyTimes