Best Way to Approach Secure Development Lifecycle

Best Way to Approach Secure Development Lifecycle

• Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) constitutes a lot of complex procedures. Even a slight lapse in the integration of these processes might lead to security gaps.
• Organizations most often focus on the security of the application layer. This makes SDLC an easy target for attackers to exploit.
• This makes it important to approach a secure development lifecycle to protect it from the increasing risks of cyberattacks.
• It is advisable to integrate security with the development lifecycle at the very beginning instead of delegating it after the design and development.

What is a Secure Development Lifecycle?

A secure development lifecycle where security practices run simultaneously will all the phases of the development process including the design and development. It involves preparing for the potential security risks that might come further in the process or after the development.

How to Approach Secure Development Lifecycle?

The application software constitutes a major portion of a company’s whole working infrastructure. It can make or break the whole working module of the business. This makes it compulsory to focus on security right from the very beginning of the development lifecycle.

Approaching a secure SDLC involves holding on to the security measures throughout different phases of development. The major challenge is to create a balance between customer demands and security. Your approach must fulfill the same.

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To approach a Secure Dev. lifecycle, you need to capture industry-standard security activities to implement. You might encounter a lot of roadblocks if you lack a standard approach.

Instead of fixing the old codes and designs, developers must focus on the future. Developing new secure codes will help them avoid previous security mistakes.

Different Phases of Approaching a Secure SDLC

Each phase of the software development life cycle comes with a different security challenge. Let’s have a look at them in detail…

1. Requirement

In this phase, developers collect the list of functional requirements to implement in the product from all the stakeholders. The advisable security protocol for this phase is the assessment of potential risks that might haunt the final product’s functioning. For instance, the function is to verify the contact information. It is important to assess that the user is only seeing his/her information and not others’

2. Design

Here, the application gets its structural outlook that includes UI and basic functionalities. This phase decides what the final product would have and what it would not. Secure-by-design is the security trait any application or software can have. The security concern in this phase is also structural. Suppose you design a page to retrieve a user’s name, age, DOB, and other related data. The concern is to make sure that it retrieves the data of the said person only. It must not provide any privilege or access to someone else’s data.

3. Development

The phase where the application is given life. Writing codes and implementing algorithms to carry out functions are the processes of this phase. Code obfuscation and misconfigurations are key security risks in this phase. Following secure coding guidelines and frequent code analysis can help to avoid mistakes.

4. Testing and Verification

This phase involves the testing of all the implementations within the project developers worked upon. The first part of this phase is all about matching the final product with the initial requirements of the stakeholders. After that, the application is tested on various parameters including the security assessment. The only concern in this phase is that no area should be left for testing. This might lead to security gaps in the final product.

5. Maintenance and Evolution

A secure development lifecycle does not end even after the release of the application. The product might be susceptible to various threats after release that you did not count on while developing. These security threats come from unknown sources you cannot prepare for in advance. Regular testing and assessment will take are during this phase.

Best Practices for a Secure Development Lifecycle

Stagewise best practices for a secure SDLC are listed below:

1. Concept and Planning

• Security requirements
• Security awareness

2. Architecture and Design

• Secure design
• Threat modeling

3. Implementation

• Code review
• Static scanning

4. Testing and Bug Fixing

• Penetration testing
• Dynamic scanning

5. Release and Maintenance

• Ongoing security checks
• Incident response plan

6. End of Life

• Data disposal
• Data retention

Benefits of a Secure SDLC

Key benefits of a secure development lifecycle are:

• You get a more secure final product because security is the primary concern throughout.
• All the requirements of the stakeholders are considered and implemented into the application.
• Flaws in the design and configuration are highlighted before you bring them to existence.
• The overall cost of the process is reduced as the after-development security processes are eliminated.
• Makes the security approach consistent throughout the teams.

Before You Go!

• So, the best way to approach a secure development lifecycle is to press the security button right from the start.
• Always choose an expert service provider to ensure a secure software development life cycle for your application.