Best Practices in Software Security

BY JON STOJAN

Software security is very vital, and developers must give it due attention. Over the years, software development has become an important aspect of our lives as we use it for almost everything. Developers must follow the best practices for software development security. These best practices reduce code vulnerabilities, protect it from cybercriminals and hackers, and help maintain users’ privacy. Let’s find out below some best practices developers should follow while developing software applications.

Make Software Security a Priority

Ensure always to consider security from the planning stage of any project. Find out about vulnerabilities that might present themselves in every stage of software development. Always evaluate security when adding new features or making changes down the line.

A secure software development lifecycle (SDLC) can help create secure applications. This process accounts for the security risk involved in the whole application lifecycle. Additionally, the process works through every stage, ensuring the implementation of appropriate control at all process steps.

Perform Penetration Testing

With penetration testing, you can identify potential security problems in software. Penetration software testers use tools similar to those used by hackers to evaluate the security of a system against malicious attacks.

Many companies often perform penetration testing each month on their products or system subsets. This way, they can be confident that existing vulnerabilities are swiftly addressed and resolved before attackers find them.

Have a Secure Coding Guideline and Standard

Secure software development begins with coding standards and guidelines. Every company’s secure coding measures must be defined by various experts and consider industry best practices. Secure coding standards promote better design principles in a company, reducing vulnerabilities before the software is live.

By offering a standard set of regulations and rules regarding the type of code to write, teams can enforce robust testing methods throughout the software development lifecycle and ensure they aren’t introducing new vulnerabilities.

Certain concepts of secure coding guidelines developers must know include, encryption, cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, password hashing, buffer overflow attack, input validation attacks, sensitive data exposure, insufficient logging and monitoring, application whitelisting (also known as least privilege), improper error handling, and unvalidated redirects and forwards.

Perform Regular Patches and Updates

Regular software patches and updates can help address security problems while reducing security breach risk. As a result, you remain updated with security updates and patches for every software component used.

Secure Configuration Management

With configuration management, software developers can ensure software systems are deployed with secured configurations. This usually includes configuring network access, access controls, and other security-related settings that lower the risk of unauthorized access.

Continuous Monitoring

Detecting and responding to security incidents in real-time is a critical best practice in software security that can be enabled with continuous monitoring. Continuous monitoring includes monitoring network traffic, system logs, and user behavior for signs of security breaches.

Endnote

Secure software development goes beyond secure coding. It is best to take a holistic approach and implement software security best practices into your daily workflow. Software security should begin with software development, deployment, and beyond. Doing this ensures security becomes an integral part of your software development process rather than something you do when there is a breach or at specific intervals.