Application Security Testing was traditionally performed at the end of the development process, usually as an afterthought.
The Reason?
The urgency to push a product to the market at the right time, as soon as possible.
Has the time to implement the security-first approach in building products arrived? Let us review.
The Challenge with the Traditional Methods
Culture plays a huge role in the company's methods while building products. You'll often find companies with the "hacker mindset" looking to launch a product as soon as possible. You may also find companies taking their time waiting to launch a product until it's all perfect.
Many companies implementing the first approach end up putting security at the end of the pipeline, while some do not even consider it. Sadly, this approach leaves a lot of security loopholes, giving attackers much room to do devastating damage.
Companies that take the second approach may even be worse off as they do not implement the popular DevOps methodologies that enable the swift development of products. A slow product development process doesn't guarantee in any way that the security of the product is considered a priority. It does ensure that any issues, when found, will take time to be fixed.
There are over 1 billion web requests daily, and 1 in every 13 of those web requests lead to malware. Security threats exist with all kinds of products, and they are rising. Without a doubt, it is only a matter of time before companies that do not take security seriously meet a dead end.
What is the Security-First Approach?
The security-first approach includes integrating security measures in all IT product-related processes such as:
- Software architecture
- Software development
- Continuous Integration and Continuous Development (CI/CD)
- Operations engineering
While the technical aspects of product development are usually considered more demanding for a security approach, it goes further. The security-first approach extends to marketing, sales, and every possible channel that can aid an attack.
How to Implement a Security-First Approach
Now that you know what the security-first approach is, how can one implement it in their organization?
Here are a few ways:
- Data Security should Become a Serious Business
It is essential to handle data appropriately, even when doing preliminary product research and analysis. A security-first approach will be to put top authentication methods in place to prevent any data from leaking into the wrong hands.
You will find companies looking to use biometrics to prevent data breaches these days. The reason for taking such measures is not far-fetched as IBM says the average data breach cost is about $3.86 million. Hence, it is becoming imperative for companies to deploy a security-first approach to prevent such losses.
2.DevOps should Empower the Deployment Process.
In the SDLC, security becomes even more vital as just one security breach can be very detrimental. Through Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD), software development indeed becomes faster, but there needs to be a security check before every code deployment. Codes should never be deployed without appropriate security checks as any security breach in codes can be destructive for the entire product in the future.
Of the top organizations implementing DevOps in their application development process, 38% report a higher quality of code production and 63% experience improvement in the quality of their software deployments. The numbers are rising and indicate the benefits of using DevOps in the development pipeline to reduce product security vulnerabilities.
3.Enforce Frequent Security Checks
Operation engineering activities should also be security-driven. Adopting a DevOps model without sacrificing security is crucial using automated compliance policies, fine-grained controls, and configuration management techniques.
All software dependencies should be checked frequently as 78% of security vulnerabilities in software result from indirect dependencies: open-source dependencies. It is common to find that these dependencies become obsolete after a while, thereby increasing the chances of a security vulnerability.
4.Use Security Dashboards
Every activity in a software development life cycle (SDLC) adds complexity to the development process's level. You will begin to see the need for a dashboard when you understand this.
63% of businesses do not have an effective way to track threats, and security dashboards can help make it easier. Dashboards provide insights from the available data, making it easier to discover attempts to breach the security. With the help of dashboards, it becomes easier to set up real-time automatic alerts and responses when there is an imminent threat.
5.Empower the Developers with Regular Security Training
Every developer tries to make the software in hand feature-rich only to miss the security implications of the code, making the product extremely vulnerable. To ingrain the culture of a security-first approach in product development, you should regularly empower the developers with security training.
This exercise makes the developer's security-conscious and enables them to better understand the codes’ complexities, making the end product less vulnerable and more secure.
To implement a security-first approach to building products, the implication of every action on the security of a product needs to be critically analyzed.
The Benefits of a Security-First Approach
Taking a security-first approach to building products comes with a lot of benefits. It is common to find small-scale businesses considering a security-first approach overkill; sadly, the truth only dawns on such companies after an attack.
There is a lot of sensitive data online, and almost all products are built on some form of software complexity. So all products tend to get exposed to attackers, regardless of the business size.
The benefits to be discussed in this section apply to all kinds of businesses: small, medium, or large scale enterprises.
Here are some of the benefits of a security-first approach to building products:
- Increased Customer Trust: The customers can't tell if a company uses a security-first approach, but it will become evident over time. Consistent security breaches will cause a product to lose many if not all, of its users as nobody trusts a product with breached security.
- Stable Innovations: What is the purpose of innovation if it won't stand the test of time? With a security-first approach to product development, innovations can be carefully thought out by simultaneously large chunks of security flaws.
- Improved Work Culture: When everybody in the company is on the same page as regards the company's stance on security, it becomes easier to communicate. Teamwork is more effective when everybody understands the core values of a company or a product.
- Increased Confidence in Products: With a security-first approach to product development, products have a high confidence level. When confidence is established in a product, it is easier to innovate and improve it.
Every product goes through a natural stage of development, growth, and maturity.
That’s why project managers and tech entrepreneurs rely on mapping out the various product development stages to obtain greater insight into the next steps.
Additionally, with added innovation and new features, the modern product development process becomes increasingly complex.
This is when the product is being developed and is going to be launched to the market in the coming quarters.
From an R perspective, this includes iterating on a marketable design, including widgets that will allow the product to have a unique positioning.
To know about all the stages read: Product Development Stages
