Secure software design is becoming a challenge for numerous organizations due to the constant expansion of the threat environment.
Secure Design Steps
Here are ten security design steps that you can follow to build the safest software. These will help you protect your software from cyber-attacks.
Including security from the start.
Before your developers even write a single line of code, you should plan on how to integrate security in every phase of your software development life cycle. you can utilize the power of automation to test and monitor potential vulnerabilities from the first day.
Enforcing a secure software development policy.
Since this policy is a guideline that prepares your team, processes, and technology for secure software development, you need to enforce it to ensure compliance. A secure software development policy governs the rules to minimize any risks to your software.
Employing a secure software development framework.
Following a framework like NIST SSDF can add structure and consistency during production by improving your team’s adherence to best practices for secure software development.
Designing software to meet security requirements.
You can train your developers to write code that aligns with your pre-defined security requirements. With these parameters in mind, you can create a system that ensures that your third-party vendors follow suit, as they can provide an easy pathway for an attack.
Protecting code integrity.
Keeping your source code in secure repositories will only allow authorized access and prevent tampering. To preserve your data integrity, you need to regulate all interactions with the code, monitor changes strictly, and oversee code signing processes.
Conducting frequent reviews and tests.
Ideally, you should break away from the traditional approach of testing the code at the end of the software development life cycle. Instead, you should conduct regular reviews and automated testing to examine code for floors as it moves through the development phases. If you catch vulnerabilities, you will save money and prevent team frustration.
Mitigating vulnerabilities immediately.
Vulnerabilities are a part of software development; you need to be ready as a team and plan to resolve these incidents as they occur in real-time. Immediately identifying and responding to these vulnerabilities will shorten the exploitation window.
Configuring default security settings.
After release, there is a possibility that your users may remain vulnerable due to their lack of knowledge regarding your software functions. So, you need to keep your users in mind and create software that protects them even if they are unaware.
Using checklists.
An action checklist can help your team track and monitor secure software development. you can hold weekly or monthly meetings to see if the team is following the necessary security policies and procedures or not.
Remaining agile and proactive.
As an organization, you should study these vulnerabilities and improve your development skills by learning the underlying causes, identifying patterns, avoiding repetition, and updating your software development life cycle while improving your knowledge.
Special Design Issues
During the design phase, development teams can run into numerous issues and challenges because the organization requires them to:
- Work within accelerated turnarounds
- Balance their ability to think with performance
- Stay relevant to the concept
- Incorporate technological change
- Do a great job
- Follow design prerequisites
- Think with a holistic perspective
- Be unique
- Have multiple skills
- Include human experience
- Encourage new recruits to inspire them
- Keep an eye on other design disciplines
Conclusion
Developing software that is both efficient and secure is increasingly challenging because of the constant increase in threats. That’s why we compiled this list of steps you can use to build a safe software. Our website also has many articles on software design processes like changelogs and static analysis, which you can use to ensure a smooth and secure software design.
