Most organizations have well-oiled machines in place when designing, launching, and maintaining functional software but not so much when securing that software. This is why your organization needs to incorporate security measures into the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle). Through this, you’ll enable, instead of restricting, the delivery of sophisticated and highly-secured products to the market.
What Is the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?
The Software Development Life Cycle or otherwise called the application development life cycle, describes the processes involved in building an application, ranging from the planning phase to the deployment and maintenance phase.
The SDLC involves the standard implementation of business practices to construct software applications. This concept is applicable to a wide range of software and hardware configurations since a system be made up of software alone, of hardware alone, or even a combination of both.
There are different phases involved in the Software Development Process, including planning, requirements, design and prototyping, software development, documenting, testing, deployment, and maintenance. The SDLC models and methodologies can be used to build a complex application structure with varying scales and sizes, including Waterfall, Agile, Iterative, Spiral, and DevOps.
Why Is Secure SDLC Important?
A Secure SDLC process is important because it ensures the security assurance of specific activities including architecture analysis, code review, and penetration testing, all of which are integral aspects of the development effort. Simply put, the SDLC outlines each task required to assemble a software application.
Having a secure SDLC process reduces waste and improves the effectiveness of the development process. Conducting tests makes sure that the project stays on track, eliminates distractions, and ensures that the project continues to be a viable investment for the organization. Nevertheless, trailing a Secure SDLC outlook is the major benefit of providing secure software since security is an ongoing issue.
The Five Phases of a Secure SDLC
It’s quite easy to overlook the fundamental Software Development Processes for a successful SDLC given software development complexity. The SDLC Phases include planning, creating, developing, testing, and deploying an application.
Planning
The planning phase is the most essential aspect of the Software Development Process. In this phase, business analysts, project managers, and domain experts compile and analyze business requirements. This would cover formulating a timetable with target goals, calculating labor and material costs, and establishing the project’s teams and leadership structure.
This is where the business analyst works together with other stakeholders to improve the business requirements document and write use cases, which would be shared with the project management team. The purpose of the business requirement assessments is to identify potential risks, ensure technical feasibility, and guarantee quality assurance.
You need to have a clearly defined purpose and scope of application before moving ahead. This would help you strategize and make provisions that will enable the team to create the software successfully. It will also help you to set restrictions that will keep the project in check.
Creating
This phase models the way a software application would function. The technical architects and lead developers create the original advanced design plan for the software and system. This covers the delivery of requirements implemented to formulate the DDS (design document specification).
Certain aspects included in the design phase include:
◉ Architecture: this includes industry practices, programming language, application of templates, and overall design.
◉ Platforms: This covers the platforms on which the software is designed, including Linux, Windows version, Apple, Android, gaming consoles, etc.
◉ Security: this outlines the measures implemented to secure the application. It may also cover password protection, secure storage of user credentials, and SSL traffic encryptions.
◉ User Interface: this outlines the way consumers relate with software and the way in which software interacts with input.
◉ Communication: this outline how software can interact with other assets, including the central server
◉ Programming: This includes executing tasks in the application, the methods of solving problems, and not just the programming language.
Developing
During the developing phase, the database administrator designs and imports the required data into the database. This is where the real writing of the program takes place, which is a significant phase for developers. Given that requirements specify programming languages, developers design the interface in accordance with the coding standards and perform unit testing.
Developers need to be flexible and unbiased in case changes are presented by the business analyst. Depending on the project’s size, the project can either be written by a single developer or it might be broken up and worked by numerous teams.
Testing
It is crucial to test applications and software before they are made available to the consumers. Penetration testers assess the software with the requirements to ensure that the software solves the needs stated and tackled during the planning phase. Testing also helps to minimize the number of glitches and bugs encountered by users.
These tests are performed as functional testing, covering system testing, unit testing, acceptance testing, integration testing, as well as non-functional testing.
Deploying an Application
This is where the application is made available to the user. Much of the process in the deployment phase is often automated. Although deployment can also be complex since numerous systems can be applied by the database and incorporating such an upgrade can take a lot of time and effort.
At this point, most of the Software Development Life Cycle has been completed. However, regardless of the sophistication of the software and thorough testing and the number of users, there will always be glitches and bugs.
These issues need to be fixed, which launch a new Software Development Life Cycle. You need access to well-informed and dependable support resources because you’ll need to conduct routine maintenance and keep up-to-speed on upgrades to address potential issues.
How to Get Started?
If you are a software engineer, developer, or penetration tester, the following are some of the steps you can take to ensure a secure SDLC and improve your organization’s security.
◉ Perform an architecture risk analysis from the beginning.
◉ Get knowledgeable resources for yourself and team members on the best secure coding practices and accessible frameworks for improving your security.
◉ Seek external help where necessary
◉ Ensure you invest in certification training for developers
◉ Put security at the forefront when planning and building for test cases. You can apply code scanning tools for dynamic analysis, static analysis, and interactive application security testing.
◉ Conduct a gap analysis to verify that those policies and activities exist in your organization and determine their efficiency.
◉ Validate processes for security activities within your SSI.
Why Become a Certified Application Security Engineer?
Instant Credibility:
The CASE program verifies that you are truly knowledgeable about application security. Likewise, it validates the skills that you have for employers across the globe.
Multidimensional Proficiencies:
The CASE training program can be used with various platforms, including IoT devices, web applications, and mobile applications, among several others.
Relevant Knowledge:
Through the CASE training program and certification, you’ll learn how to improve your knowledge about application security.
A Holistic Outlook:
CASE fortifies you with the required skills to build a secure application, ranging from pre-deployment to post-deployment security methodologies, encompassing every facet of secure – Software Development Life Cycle.
Enhanced Protection and Defense:
Holding a CASE credential means you’re able to protect and defend and at the end of the day, you’re able to help build a safer world. Also, by making an application more secure, you can defend both individuals and organizations globally.
Source: eccouncil.org
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