
Security attacks can happen anytime despite the secure IT network infrastructure. Today, hackers attack the software itself, and it can impact a business all of a sudden.
Cyberattacks can cause loss and affect all stakeholders in the business. Also, the damage can be much more than the financial losses. Any compromise in data security impacts customer trust and the reputation of a business. It takes time to recoup the losses in terms of both money expended and morale gained throughout the years.
In this article, we will discuss a few best practices for building secure software development. These best practices have been developed from the experience of numerous programmers, testers, and analysts during the software development life cycle.
1. Protect the business to ensure customer trust
When it comes to data breaches, we often relate it to the loss in terms of money. However, imagine the damage that is caused by loss of reputation. For example, data security compromises that result in the disclosure of customer data and threats to the continuity of service, all of which lead to severe financial losses. However, the real damage is associated with losing customer trust in your business. We cannot even fathom the extent of such losses in financial terms. In fact, every business should know they are responsible for safeguarding the interests of customers. It should encourage them to address data security risks and ensure secure building products.
2. Understand your business and build security solutions
In the first place, businesses should understand compliance needs, the use of technology, automated systems, potential risks, and many more, and then design a secure solution that protects their software products from cyberattacks. For example, mountaineers use safety harnesses to prevent injuries during an accident. Also, it gives them enough confidence to climb safely. In other words, cyber security helps safeguard a business from potential cyberattacks and helps it function without compromising security aspects in the digital ecosystem.
3. Know the technology of the software
A clear knowledge of the infrastructural elements is fundamental for ensuring that a software product will be functional without compromising the security of the present environment. Businesses should know how these technological elements work together with the new product. It helps them to understand the solutions that bolster overall security. Also, when acquiring software products from third parties, check vendor claims on security features along with the feasibility of implementation.
4. Secure Sensitive Information
Businesses should ensure the security of sensitive data. To implement it, they can integrate data protection right from the beginning of the development process. They must identify sensitive data, use encryption, and protect data storage and transmission by implementing advanced security practices. The use of data protection standards ensures secure coding, testing, and regular maintenance. Also, coders should take into account data minimization and sage deletion, safeguard sensitive information, and ensure brand loyalty by elevating customers’ confidence and trust in your brand.
5. Ensure Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory and privacy needs have become a best practice in secure software development services for businesses in the UK and businesses around the globe. Today, regulatory compliance pays attention to the prevention of data protection. For example, compliance with GDPR while handling personal data and HIPAA in healthcare is a must to reduce data security breaches. In other words, it improves customer trust. Therefore, regulatory compliance integration in the software development process enables businesses to ensure security in all aspects. Further, it helps with continuous testing and maintenance. For these, businesses should analyze the possibilities for risk, develop security testing, and ensure training.
6. Implement software designing with secure features
Often, developers tend to overlook security issues when they only focus on vulnerabilities in the code. To prevent this, developers should work on software design for possible security breaches and identify security goals for the product through threat modeling, which helps identify all possible issues. Also, the process also involves software testing with untrusted users to identify potential security vulnerabilities.
7. Software development with advanced security features
Once design is over, coding starts, and it’s vital to include secure features. At this stage, developers should assess security controls to ensure they are properly working. Testing and code reviews take place during this phase. Also, the same product should undergo the same process during functionality testing. A security code review would give the best results when developers define the scope, standards, and coding requirements in advance. Also, security testing should be done in a virtual development environment to verify the possible security risks.
8. Deployment of software solutions with secure attributes
The best practices in software development do not stop with secure design and development; they extend to secure deployment as well. In fact, building a software product that ensures proper operational capabilities with security features is a must. It is one of the best practices that makes the software robust and ensures that there won’t be any risk resulting from future actions implemented. For example, it assesses the software for security from the hacker’s viewpoint just after deployment to identify and prevent all possible vulnerabilities.
9. Use penetration testing
Penetration testing simulates an attacker environment, where it uses all the tools and methods a hacker could probably use for intruding into a system or application. It assumes great significance in ensuring the security of software products. The test primarily analyses security controls, assesses potential risks, provides solutions, and helps adhere to the best coding practices. Further, it minimizes the risk of attempts of attacks and checks if a product fulfills regulatory compliance. The results from penetration testing expose severe security risks. Also, it helps developers to use resources wisely, all helping to ensure a better environment for secure software development.
10. Adopt the well-maintained libraries and frameworks
In software development, programmers can use the tools, libraries, and frameworks they prefer. However, it is advised to use well-maintained tools and frameworks. It implies that they are less prone to security risks. Developers can go with open-source components. Apart from the cost benefits, they detect bugs very fast and deploy patches quickly. No matter the choice of libraries, tools, and frameworks, developers should put effort into verifying their usefulness in maintaining the security of a software product.
Final Thoughts
Software development methods undergo swift change every day to fulfill the challenging needs of customers. Therefore, ensuring the security of products is critical for every company engaged in building software products, encompassing a plethora of fields such as industrial IoT platforms for predictive maintenance, web/mobile application development and many more. These products require extra security to safeguard critical data and systems. Ensuring security is an ongoing process that needs to be monitored every single second. Also, it should start from the beginning of the software development lifecycle, right from requirements planning to deployment, testing, and maintenance.