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Software engineers to keep a close eye on application security in 2023

by Staff reporter
03 Apr 2023 at 18:46hrs | Views
  As we continue through 2023, software engineers are placing an ever-growing priority on application security. With cybercrimes causing over $2 Trillion in damages annually - it's better to be safe than sorry nowadays. In fact, a cyberattack or data breach occurs every 39 seconds on average. Unfortunately, many IT companies still neglect the secure development best practices, standards, and tactics. As a software engineer, consider how these strategies could increase your business efficiency and prevent catastrophic corporate emergencies. This way, you can keep operations safe from critical vulnerabilities, malicious hackers, and internal threats. Read on to learn about the software engineers keeping a close eye on application security in 2023.

Establish Security-Driven SDLC Management

Teams must adopt a proactive, security-driven management style for their software development life cycle. This managerial approach focuses on supervising security-trained teams while they develop, code, test, and deploy software applications. Effective SDLC managers are responsible for creating a secure team and environment – where the best practices are followed. They're also commissioned with monitoring launch, release, and distribution processes. After all, the best managers verify that applications securely reach the target user base. SDLC managers continue in this role until a mature app reaches the end of the life cycle. Certainly, establish a security-driven SDLC management style to revamp end-to-end pipeline security.

Adopt A DevSecOps Security Model

In addition, consider adding DevSecOps strategies, tactics, and principles to your SDLC managerial approach. First, you need to understand What is DevSecOps - a powerful methodology that makes security an integral piece of the software engineering lifecycle. This means integrating security best practices into your end-to-end build process and integrated development environment (IDE). Teams can adopt powerful DevSecOps compliance tools by JFrog that monitor production, protect binaries, and detect code exploitations. Plus, these solutions help streamline software composition analysis (SCA) and security testing. Definitely, adopt an advanced, forward-thinking DevSecOps model to promote strong application security in 2023.

Identify Potential Threats, Vulnerabilities, Weaknesses

Proactive dev teams are always searching for potential security threats, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses. Even with a security-focused methodology like DevSecOps, applications are still susceptible to some level of risk. Sit down with your quality assurance (QA) team to define any possible bugs or concerns. Of course, have this conversation before developers actually start building the application. After the code is written, meet with these security experts again. Together, you can go back and re-evaluate the codebase, along with any open source software (OSS) dependencies. Surely, take time to identify possible threats, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses before kickstarting the secure software development life cycle (SSDLC).

Conduct Routine Security Testing

There's no such thing as too much security testing for today's most successful software development teams. Regular QA testing helps uncover potential coding errors, failures, and bugs. Most app experts recommend running a few test case scenarios after each build iteration or SDLC stage. This way, you can pick up major issues before it's too late. You can start with simple static or dynamic code analysis. This will often help uncover syntax errors, runtime problems, or serious security bugs. Then, run unit tests – which inspect your individual modules and functions. With this approach, you can ensure everything is running and performing as expected. Absolutely, conduct routine testing and keep a closer eye on application security.


Create Documented, Written Security Policies

Many software development companies neglect to draft, write, and document comprehensive IT security policies. Set policies that mitigate application vulnerabilities and define disaster recovery procedures. Generally speaking, these strategies should be rooted in several broader security goals. For a start, you need policies that uphold confidentiality. Specifically, how your confidential data, user information, and central codebase is protected against malicious actors. At the same time, base your security approach on availability and integrity. Naturally, these policies help you establish expectations, meet compliance standards, and promote organizational efficiency. Indeed, create clear, documented, and written security policies to fortify application security in 2023.

Software developers continue to place a high priority on app security in 2023. For a start, establish a clear managerial style and approach for your secure software development life cycle (SSDLC). Next, follow a DevSecOps strategy - making security a central approach to your build process. More, meet with your security team to identify possible threats, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses. During these sessions, set a schedule for security testing. You should also create clear, documented, and comprehensive security policies. Follow the points above to learn about the software engineers keeping a close eye on application security in 2023.


Source - Byo24News