Klaudia Zaika is the CEO of Apriorsa software development company that provides engineering services globally to tech companies.
Customer satisfaction is key to product success. That’s why development teams are often tempted to prioritize application performance and functionality, hoping to introduce necessary cybersecurity measures if and when they are needed.
Yet with things like quantum threats just around the corner, businesses can no longer afford to compromise on the security of their products.
Taking a security-first approach to software development is what can help businesses stay ahead of both market competition and emerging cyber threats. In my company, aiming to maintain the vital balance between product performance, security and compliance, we adopted the principles of secure software development lifecycle (SDLC).
This proactive approach allows us to not only build well-secured software for our clients but also do it securely. So I want to share some insights on how this approach works and what you can start doing today to boost the security and resilience of your software products.
Move beyond the security by design.
To better understand the concept of secure SDLC, we need to take a step back and analyze a somewhat similar idea of secure-by-design software.
When building secure-by-design software, your development team would address the potential risks of software vulnerabilities early on, mostly on the architectural level. This approach is useful for reducing cybersecurity risks that come from within your software.
In turn, secure SDLC offers a more robust approach, introducing adequate cybersecurity measures at every stage of the SDLC, from requirements elicitation through deployment and maintenance.
The true magic happens when you combine these two approaches, enabling the secure and efficient delivery of well-protected software.
Take full control over your product’s cybersecurity landscape.
From the get-go, adopting secure SDLC gives you full control over all aspects of your product: performance, functionality and cybersecurity.
Here are some of the most prominent benefits that you can unlock for your business after shifting to secure SDLC:
• Early Detection Of Vulnerabilities: Similarly to secure-by-design, you can detect possible flaws early on and eliminate them before they turn into costly bottlenecks or security issues.
• End-To-End Security Risk Management: Regular security audits and analyses provide a clear vision of your product’s cybersecurity posture and potential risks, making it easier to address those risks throughout every stage of the software development process.
• Enhanced User Experience (UX): Abruptly introduced security measures often have a negative impact on UX. But with a clear strategy in mind, you can choose data and operational security measures that will maintain or even improve customer experience.
• Product Resilience And Reliability: With additional cybersecurity measures in place, you can maintain your product’s stable performance and keep it resilient against potential cyber threats.
• Secured Development Environment: Building your software securely is just as important as building it to be secure. With secure SDLC, your development team can safeguard project resources, data and code against unauthorized access and data leaks.
• Reduced Costs: While introducing extra security measures may add to your project’s initial expenses, they will help you cut costs in the long run, protecting your business from devastating data breaches, costly emergency fixes and non-compliance fines.
Enabling all these benefits will require shifting your mindset and learning to see and treat product cybersecurity as an integral part of your product’s delivery process.
Adopt a cybersecurity-first approach to everything.
When designing our core secure SDLC practices, my team accumulated the leading industry guidelines and recommendations, such as OWASP, ISO 27001, NIST and Microsoft SDL. Leveraging their advice and our own experience, we designed a system where each stage of a traditional SDLC is enhanced with extra precautions aimed at helping us secure critical data, mitigate possible threats and maintain regulatory compliance.
The key is to analyze the main steps you usually take at each stage of the development process, determine potential security weaknesses in your software and plan for possible remedies before you even start building your product.
For example, in the initial stage of SDLC, your team can elicit cybersecurity requirements along with general requirements for the future product. It’s also beneficial to start building a security testing strategy and design the first tests at the very first stages of your project.
At the architecture design stage, you can leverage threat modeling and third-party integration reviews to detect and address possible security flaws as early as possible. This is also the stage where you should start integrating previously planned cryptography measures to ensure proper security of the product’s critical data and operations.
During the development and testing stages, your team needs to dedicate extra time to security audits and reviews, covering everything from code and infrastructure to third-party components. Even the deployment process requires additional security enhancements, like DevSecOps measures and configuration security validation.
Either way, it’s important to remember that security is no longer just a technical aspect but an imperative for your business. Adopting a secure SDLC approach will be your first step toward gaining a strategic advantage and making your product ready to face future cybersecurity threats.
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