Security is an important part of any application that encompasses critical functionality.
Security applies at every phase of the software development life cycle (SDLC) and needs to be at the forefront of your developers’ minds as they implement your software’s requirements.
It requires a mindset that is focused on secure delivery, raising issues in the requirements and development phases as they are discovered.
Let’s review 5 phases of the Secure Software Development Life Cycle
Phase 1: Requirements
In this early phase, requirements for new features are collected from various stakeholders. It’s important to identify any security considerations for functional requirements being gathered for the new release.
Phase 2: Design
This phase translates in-scope requirements into a plan of what this should look like in the actual application. Here, functional requirements typically describe what should happen, while security requirements usually focus on what shouldn’t.
Phase 3: Development
When it’s time to actually implement the design and make it a reality, concerns usually shift to making sure the code well-written from the security perspective. There are usually established secure coding guidelines as well as code reviews that double-check that these guidelines have been followed correctly. These code reviews can be either manual or automated using technologies such as static application security testing (SAST).
That said, modern application developers can’t be concerned only with the code they write, because the vast majority of modern applications aren’t written from scratch. Instead, developers rely on existing functionality, usually provided by free open source components to deliver new features and therefore value to the organization as quickly as possible.
Phase 4: Verification
The Verification phase is where applications go through a thorough testing cycle to ensure they meet the original design & requirements. This is also a great place to introduce automated security testing using a variety of technologies. The application is not deployed unless these tests pass. This phase often includes automated tools like CI/CD pipelines to control verification and release.
Phase 5: Maintenance and Evolution
The story doesn’t end once the application is released. In fact, vulnerabilities that slipped through the cracks may be found in the application long after it’s been released. These vulnerabilities may be in the code developers wrote, but are increasingly found in the underlying open-source components that comprise an application.
What are the benefits of Secure Software Development?
– Higher security. continuous monitoring for vulnerabilities results in better application quality and mitigation of business risks.
– Cost reduction. early attention to flaws significantly reduces the effort required to detect and fix them.
– Regulatory compliance. encourages a conscientious attitude toward security-related laws and regulations. Ignoring – – them may result in fines and penalties, even if no sensitive data is lost.
– Development teams get continuous training in secure coding practices.
– Security approaches become more consistent across teams.
– Customers trust you more because they see that special attention is paid to their security.
– Internal security improves when SDL is applied to in-house software tools.
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