A Comprehensive Guide on Secure SDLC

Quick Summary: Integration of security into SDLC provides a robust security measure against cyber threats. It emphasizes conducting security assessments as applications move through various stages of an SDLC. Get a complete understanding of secure SDLC, its importance, and more information in this blog.

In a typical software development lifecycle, security testing is considered an afterthought as it is performed at the end. However, with the rising frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks, this approach fails to produce secure software applications.

Therefore, organizations must redefine their approach to build quality and secure software applications. They need secure SDLC to win the battle against evolving cyber threats and build risk-free applications. It is an extension of an SDLC, with security becoming a key component.

But what is secure SDLC and how does it help in developing more risk-resistant applications? Let’s learn about secure SDLC in detail and how it helps.

Scan for Vulnerabilities in Minutes and Identify Threats like a Pro Pentester Try Now

What the Heck is Secure SDLC?

Well, Secure SDLC (Secure Software Development Lifecycle) or SSDLC seems a highly technical term, but the underlying concept is easy. You can think of it as a security-first development methodology. It means security assessments are performed throughout the development cycle and not just at the end.

It emphasizes early testing with a shift-left security mindset. So, it is sort of a preemptive approach to defending against security threats. It helps organizations avoid the pitfalls of end-of-cycle security testing, which results in unwarranted bugs and cracks in the overall security shield of a software application.

With consecutive vulnerability assessments at each stage of the development process, it not only uncovers loopholes but also minimizes the possibility of security breaches. In essence, SSDLC is a kind of process for developing software applications in which security becomes inherent to the process instead of an outcome.

Why is Secure SDLC Important?

Modern users are more concerned about their data privacy and security. Hence, organizations must ensure stringent security measures to protect their data. SSDLC can help mitigate the risks by involving security testing early in the development process. The following are the key advantages of this process.

Building Secure Applications

Until now, organizations have followed a systematic approach to developing, testing, and releasing software applications. Often, testing was shifted further, even after the launch of applications. Consequently, they met with unwarranted bugs that resulted in security flaws.

So, this isn’t an efficient approach from a security point of view. A possible solution to the problem of unwarranted security loopholes is security testing with each development step or every code commit to ensure the final product is secure.

Reduced Costs

Fixing vulnerabilities in a software application takes a lot of time and resources. It can be even more challenging if vulnerabilities have been found after an application is released in production. Hence, early detection of vulnerabilities can reduce the costs of fixing them.

When you catch vulnerabilities as early as possible, it reduces the potential timeframe and the number of resources needed to fix them. The following graph from IBM’s research shows the relative cost of fixing security defects as an application moves through the development cycle.

Compliance Requirements

A secure software development process not only helps in creating secure software applications but also allows organizations to adhere to regulatory compliances. Regulations and compliances dictate organizations to follow specific practices for development.

Ensure User Trust

Today, users are highly concerned about their data security and privacy. The rising incidents of cybercrimes add to their fears. However, organizations can follow secure SDLC best practices to gain their trust by providing applications that protect their data. Secure SDLC ensures that applications are free of bugs or loopholes that could lead to successful cyberattacks.

Earn the Confidence of Users by Building Secure Applications that Protect Critical Data Uncover Hidden Threats

What are the Different Phases of Secure SDLC?

There are different phases in an SDLC and when security becomes an essential part of these phases, we have the SSDLC. Let’s see the different phases and how security plays a role in them.

Requirement Gathering

In the first phase, requirements for new features and functionalities are gathered. Apart from this, it also involves gathering information about security considerations for functional requirements collected. For example, a functional requirement could be to allow users to see their contact information. The security consideration in this requirement is that an individual user should only see their information.

Design

This phase defines the presentation of data based on the scope of the project. This involves determining what needs to be shown to users and how to retrieve it. For example, the function of retrieving data like the user’s name, phone number, address, etc, from the database and displaying them to users. The security consideration involves checking for a valid user session before permitting access to the database.

Development

It is the actual implementation of the design with quality coding. Security plays an important role in the development phase with code reviews and secure coding guidelines. Code reviews help detect various bugs and loopholes that can affect an application’s security. It can be manual or automated with SAST (Static Application Security Testing).

However, checking only code cannot provide a comprehensive assessment as it fails to identify security loopholes that occur at runtime. Hence, organizations can leverage DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) tool to evaluate applications at runtime and uncover vulnerabilities.

Verification

This phase involves performing thorough testing to verify that the application aligns with the real design and requirements. Automated security testing is quite useful in this phase, as it helps uncover security flaws and misconfigurations.

Maintenance and Upgrades

Launching an application isn’t the end of the story. There are more activities performed post-release. Maintenance happens regularly once an application is in the production environment. Additionally, the software application needs updates with new security patches or changes in functional requirements over time.

Obviously, security testing plays a vital role in maintenance and upgradation, too. Any change in the application code, design, or features will go through stern testing before incorporating into the application.

There might be vulnerabilities that have been discovered after a long time of an application’s release, known as zero-day vulnerabilities. Fixing them may require the rewrite of an application’s code.

How to Enable Secure SDLC in Your Organization?

The implementation of secure SDLC isn’t just about making security testing compulsory for every phase, but it’s a cultural shift. Indeed, your organization must change the way and adopt a security-first mindset. This is possible by shifting left security in your development process.

Adopting an SSDLC not just requires a cultural shift but also a change in the outlook towards security. It must not be thought of as an outcome and be perceived as an integral part of the development process. It calls for a proactive approach to fight against cyber threats by detecting weaknesses before they get exploited.

Additionally, automating the process of testing is another way to move on to secure SDLC. Your organization can leverage automated tools for application and API security testing. There are security tools that you can integrate with your CI/CD pipelines to build secure applications from the outset.

SSDLC can vary for different organizations because it involves adopting new tools, methods, and practices to make security an integral part of the entire development process. Depending on individual needs, organizations can pick the right tools, methods, and practices that give optimal results.

Best Practices to Follow for a Secure SDLC

Best practices help you build a secure SDLC mindset in your organization. The following points describe these best practices that you can follow to ensure a security-led development process.

Focus on In-house Training

Developers in your organization must follow strict security guidelines in coding to mitigate cybersecurity risks. You must provide regular training to make them aware of the evolving cybersecurity landscape. It will help them understand the potential risks precisely and implement robust security measures in applications.

Encourage Open Communication

Promote a culture of open communication in your organization to encourage developers to discuss security flaws without the fear of blame. It develops a culture of security ownership, helping your organization proactively identify and address vulnerabilities before they become a challenge. Both the security and development teams should engage in open communication that will benefit the application quality.

Use Automated Tools

Integrate automated tools into your process to save time and resources. It should allow developers to focus on coding instead of spending hours resolving security issues. The use of automation with SAST or DAST tools enables developers to rapidly identify and resolve vulnerabilities while they code and build applications.

Prioritize Risks

Instead of addressing every vulnerability, try prioritizing them and picking the most critical risks to fix them as soon as possible. It will save time and optimize the process of security assessment and remediation. Prioritizing risks will also ensure that vulnerabilities that need more attention are addressed swiftly.

Identify and Manage Vulnerabilities 10X More Efficiently with ZeroThreat Start Scanning

In a Nutshell

Growing cybersecurity incidents are a key concern for organizations as they strive to protect their applications and data from unauthorized access or hacking. Secure SDLC plays a vital role in this aspect as it provides a development approach that can minimize the risks of potential data breaches or hacking.

It embodies security into the SDLC making it a responsibility of the developers. So, security testing takes place at every phase of the SDLC. Developers use various automated tools along the way to identify and fix security loopholes before applications reach production.

There are lots of tools out there. You can choose ZeroThreat for the development team in your organization. It is an advanced automated pentesting tool that can uncover vulnerabilities with 98.9% accuracy. It discovers zero-day exploits, out-of-band vulnerabilities, and other security issues.

Learn more about it to know how it can be beneficial in AppSec.