Security should always be kept on top of the priorities in any business sector. When it comes to software product development, security holds paramount importance. As per the recent reports on cyber security, cybercrime may cost around 10.5 trillion USD across the globe by the year 2025. A lack of security measures can cause system downtime, compromised data, and even financial losses for your company.
These numbers can make many businesses insecure about the finances, assets, sensitive data, and personal information of the clients. This is where opting for cybersecurity best practices and hiring a reliable product development partner is the need of the hour. So what are the key considerations to be taken when developing software to ensure that the final product will be as secure as possible and there will be reduced risk from external threats?
With the evolving technology in the world of cybersecurity and practice measures, companies are offering secure and efficient software development services. However, finding a good software development company that follows a strict code of ethics and best practices is not as easy as it seems.
When hiring a software product development partner for your business, make sure they hold a deep understanding of software development security and phases of the secure software development life cycle. In this blog, you can get ideas about the best practices that every software development company should follow. But first, let’s discuss software development security.
Software development security involves designing an architecture which is the sum of all the technologies, processes, and practices employed to ensure the robust security of the software product. This architecture is designed in the initial phase of the software development life cycle which means, from the conceptual process of the final deployment. It comprises a wide variety of measures such as vulnerability assessments, threat modeling penetration testing, and so on. All of these processes are done with the sole purpose of navigating and resolving the software security risks and proactive management.
By following these practices, developers can build highly efficient and secure software products. The benefits might not be visible immediately, but they can certainly save the business from potential threats, data breaks, and other cyber hacks in the future. Integrating security measures from the start of the software development life cycle can greatly help organizations avoid the risk of security issues. This ensures that the enterprise software product is quite resilient to major cyber attacks.
When hiring a software development service, it is advised to check if the company follows the well-defined software development policy which is the foundation of all security practices. A software development policy is a set of guidelines, standards, and procedures that explain how the product will be developed, designed, and maintained to meet all security needs throughout the lifecycle.
When you hire a custom software development partner, make sure the company follows the best security practices listed below-
- Secure Software Configuration
- Secure Coding Techniques
- Security Testing
- Threat Modeling
- Incidence Response
Secure Software Configuration:
The software development company must follow the set procedure for secure configuration management of the software product. Also, there should be proper settings for the prevention of any changes or unauthorized access to the software system.
Secure Coding Techniques:
Secure coding techniques mean good coding practices that are done by seasoned software developers. These secure coding techniques include input validation as well as sanitization that helps to prevent risks like cross-site scripting attacks and SQL injection.
Security Testing:
The software development company you hire must have proven expertise in performing different types of security testing such as vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, etc. These tests are used to identify any vulnerabilities and potential security loopholes in the software design.
Threat Modeling:
Developers must know the technologies to identify the potential threats and risks related to the software product and design the right countermeasures that lead to mitigate the security risks,
Incident Response:
This practice outlines the processes that are performed by the software development team to respond to the security incidents happening in the company and report them to the management authorities.
The Final Thought
As mentioned above, securing the entire software development process is crucial to avoid future risks. It requires a multifaceted approach that involves certain security measures and practices based on the secure software development life cycle concept. When hiring a software development team, it is important to know that they incorporate security-focused code reviews, threat modeling, and many other testing methodologies in their client’s projects. Also, they need to be updated with the latest security technologies and trends to identify new threats.
So, no matter what type of software development project you have, be it an e-commerce website or a complex SAAS application, your custom software development partner must follow secure software development practices so that you can trust them to share your sensitive data.
