Secure software development is a need of hour as cyber crime is increasing day by day. If your software is not secure that means you are keeping your company’s name and fame at risk. If you want to get customers attention and want to secure yourself and your company then make sure software applications that you are providing to your end user are highly secure. Huge amount of sensitive and confidential data is stored on software, and if it is stolen you may need to face big financial loss. To avoid all these stuff it is necessary to develop highly secured software, those will not ever get leaked and never could become victim to any bugs or viruses. Even if a hacker tries to hack your software, he would not be able to do it.
So how it could be possible?
The technology is changing and advancing every single day. This makes securing any kind of software more complex and time taking but still it is possible to make it secure. Some of the challenges to make software system secure are Viruses, Trojan horses, Logic bombs, Worms, Agents, and Applets. Any of these can make the software vulnerable. There are various techniques with which you can make your software secure.
SDL (secure development lifecycle )
The solution that provides well structured approach to software security is called SDL (secure development lifecycle ). SDL is a set of development practices that ensures the security of software/application. If you want it to be Foolproof then you must integrate these practices at all the stages of secure software development and software maintenance.
What are All the Benefits of Implementing SDL
Better Quality Software:
With SDL it is possible to monitor vulnerabilities continuously. This ensures your software remain bug free and thus the quality of your software improves.
Cost Reduction
If the flaws are attended at early stages then it significantly takes less time and efforts to get it fixed. Subsequently it reduces overall cost to maintain software.
Regulatory Compliance
SDL encourages to abide security related rules and regulations. Which eventually help you to not get penalized for any security issues in the future by government.
Best Practices To Follow Secure Software Development
1 Concept and Planning
The very first stage to develop any software is conceptualizing and planning. This stage include developing a project plan, jotting down all project requirement and then allocation human resources is a wise manner.
At this stage you may need following SDL practices
a. SDL Discovery
SDL discovery starts with defining security and objective at very early stage of your project. Selecting SDL methodology and planning relevant activities all these steps comes under SDL discovery.
b. Security Requirement
Prepare a complete list of security requirements that are required at various levels. These include both technical and regulatory requirements. Keeping this list ready will surely help you to easily identify and fix all non-compliant areas of your software project.
c. Security Awareness Training
Basic security training establishes a security mindset in the project participants towards the project . Whereas advanced security courses provide in-depth information on secure development to the key project participants .
2. Architecture and Design
The purpose of this Architecture and Design stage is to design a product in such a way that it will adhere all the security norms. This stage includes modeling the software structure and its usage. It also include third party integrations to speed up the process of software development.
SDL practices at this Stage May include following :
a. Threat modeling
Threat modeling includes identification of probable attack scenario and adding relevant and adequate countermeasure to the software design. This modeling uncovers possible vulnerabilities at early stage. Thus help in reducing further cost of debugging.
b. Secure design
The design documents should always comply with security norms . All the documents and required updates should always go under security check. Early design reviews can help in identifications of security risks before they are implemented practically.
c. Third-party software tracking
Third-party software integration is always a risk. And if they are not from the trusted sources, may cause vulnerabilities.
The whole system could collapse because of it. So, it is utmost important to go with regular checks with the third party security check as well. By doing so you can spot the areas of threats and can apply necessary patches and fill the gaps.
Related Article : 5 Different Types of Software Development
3. Implementation
Implementation is a stage where application is actually built. This includes writing application code, debugging it and making a final stable product which ready for testing further.
SDL practices recommended for this stage include:
Secure coding
Enforcing secure coding principles eliminates many extreme vulnerabilities and frees up time for other important tasks.
Static scanning
Static application scanning tools (SAST) review newly written code and find potential weaknesses without having to run the application. Daily use of static scanning tools uncovers mistakes before they can make their way into application builds.
Code review
While automated scanning saves a lot of effort, manual code reviews are still a must for building secure applications. Timely reviews help developers to flag and fix potential issues before they shift attention to other tasks.
4. Testing and bug fixing
The purpose of this stage is to discover and correct application errors. This includes running automatic and manual tests, identifying issues, and fixing them.
SDL practices for this Stage
Dynamic scanning
Fuzzing
Penetration testing
5. Release and maintenance
At this stage an application goes live, with many instances running in a variety of environments. Eventually new versions and patches become available and some customers choose to upgrade, while others decide to keep the older versions.
SDL practices recommended for this stage include:
- Environment management
Real attackers exploit environment configuration errors and vulnerabilities. Security monitoring must cover the entire system, not just the application. Such monitoring improves the overall security of your application. - Incident response plan
An incident response plan clearly describes the procedures your incident team must follow to address any security breaches that might occur. Swift execution of the response plan is crucial for triage and repair of security breaches. - Ongoing security checks
Security checks must be repeated on a regular basis because new types of vulnerabilities are being discovered at a steady rate. Regular checks protect your application from newly discovered vulnerabilities.
Aimbeat is a well known Software Development Company in Vashi. We ensure about the security of your software. Develop your software from the Industry experts.
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