As a developer or tester, one of your biggest responsibilities is to ensure that your software is free from any security vulnerabilities. In 2020, the Phonemon Institute’s Cost of Data Breach Report indicated that worldwide data breaches cost $3.86 million on average. Thus, we can see that data breaches can prove to be “extremely” costly for your business software. 

To help you avoid such consequences, today we’ll look at 10 best practices to help you maintain security in software development. So stay tuned and keep reading. First, let’s discuss some of the consequences of not creating secure software for a business. Let’s begin.

The Consequences of Not Maintaining Security in Software Development

Not taking security measures when developing software can result in serious repercussions such as: 

1. Cyber attacks and data breaches result in the loss of data that is essential for your business operations. 

2. Loss of reputation and trust of customers who have entrusted valuable information to your business.

3. Fines from authorities such as the GDPR and HIPAA, result in a huge financial brunt for your business. 

Now that we know about the consequences of not maintaining security in software development, let’s look at how you can prevent them by following these 10 best practices in security testing for software development. 

Practices to Ensure Security in Software Development

Here’s how you can ensure security in software development to create software that is secure for the end user and reliable for the customers: 

1. Making  a security blueprint

2. Training your employees

3. Defining a response plan

4. Using secure coding practices

5. Maintaining regulatory compliance

6. Reviewing code

7. Securing code

8. Running security tests

9. Continuously updating your software

10. Monitoring your software

1. Making a security blueprint

As always, before you implement something, you need a roadmap that tells you what you hope to achieve, and how you hope to achieve it. The same goes for maintaining security in software development. 

So, prepare a blueprint that includes all the threats that you think your software is prone to. It could include things such as malware attacks, spoofing, ransomware attacks, password attacks, or Cryptojacking. Once you have a blueprint for all that you think can attack your software, it becomes easier to decide on strategies for how to get rid of them. 

2. Training your employees

Whether you’re a developer who’s developing software for a third party, or the organization which needs the software, training your employees is crucial. Training makes your team aware of all the pitfalls and hazards that can affect your software. Thus, your employees will know the right approach, and whom to contact, in case a security breach occurs. 

You  can provide training for issues such as: 

1. Security awareness

2. Secure coding practices

3. Security testing tools

4. Secure software development lifecycle practices

3. Defining a response plan

Once you have identified all the obstacles that can hinder the security of your software, you need to define a response plan. Your response plan will include ways to tackle any software security threat, such as whom to contact, and which programs to initiate to control the damage caused. 

4. Using secure coding practices

Secure coding practices ensure that your code is free from any loopholes that make it prey to bugs, malware, and ransomware attacks. Popular secure coding practices include things such as: 

1. Input validation

2. Encryption

3. Logging

4. Access controls

5. Password management 

6. System configuration

5. Maintaining regulatory compliance

Adopt industry regulations to ensure security in software development, such as: 

1. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) 

2. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

3. SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002) 

4. ISO 27001 and 22301 ( International Standards to Manage Information Security and Business Continuity) 

6.  Reviewing codes

Ask your team to continuously review codes at each stage. Continuous reviews ensure security in software development by emphasizing  that: 

1. Team members follow the same coding style. 

2. Bugs are discovered earlier before the code is shipped. 

3. Compliance is maintained throughout the coding process.

7. Securing codes

Make sure that your code is free from unauthorized access. Maintain your code in secure digital bunkers. Doing this ensures that only authorized personnel have access to your codes, which keeps it free from any security risks. Moreover, ensure that you are using updated code libraries when writing code for your software. 

8. Running security tests

When you’re creating code for the software, make sure to run continuous security tests to ensure the code’s accuracy. Some tests that you should run on the code are: 

1. Pen testing: This testing involves simulating a hacker’s attacks to identify the weaknesses that exist within the code. 

2. Software composition analysis testing: This testing identifies all open-source code available within the software and notifies developers of all the issues in the code that they need to fix. 

3. Static application security testing: This form of testing tests the application’s complete source code and identifies all flaws that exist within the application.

4. Dynamic application security testing (DAST): Dynamic application testing involves running the code on a deployed/running application. The tests are aimed at simulating real-world attacks on the application.

9. Continuously updating your software

Providing regular software updates ensures that your software is equipped with the latest security patches needed to combat hacker attacks and malware. A security update means that hackers need to alter their strategy to attack the users, as the loopholes within the software have been revised.  

10.  Monitoring your software

Monitoring helps you guard the gate. If anything suspicious “knocks on the door” you’ll know about it before it enters into the software and creates a mess. You can monitor your software for security vulnerabilities by: 

1. Deploying vulnerability scanners to check your software for known weaknesses. Make sure to conduct vulnerability testing regularly. 

2. Deploying regular security patches when a new security gap is uncovered. 

3. Using SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) tools to identify suspicious activity that may result in a security breach. Popular SIEM tools are: 

• IBM QRadar
• Log Rhythm
• Securonix 
• Rapid7 

So, continuously monitor your software to decrease the amount of security vulnerabilities and make it foolproof against any cyber-attacks. 

Now that we know everything included in best practices for security in software development, let’s end by taking a look back at what we learned throughout the blog. 

The Ending Note

While developing and testing software, it’s important to ensure that the software is free from any security breaches and vulnerabilities. Security breaches in software are detrimental and lead to major issues such as cyber-attacks, loss of trust of customers who have entrusted valuable information to your business, and fines from authorities which take a huge financial toll on your business. Keep a hold of these practices, and you’ll be able to provide top-of-the-line security in software development.