With the rise of cloud-native software and the more recent explosion in the use of generative AI, the importance of secure development best practices cannot be overlooked. This is underlined by regular stories in the news of cybersecurity attacks, like the recent attack attempted against JumpCloud.
It’s never been more vital to prepare against potential vulnerabilities and breaches—not to mention safeguard the trust of your organization’s users and customers. In this article, we’ll dive into what secure development looks like, provide some of the most common vulnerabilities and how to mitigate them, and share a philosophy that can help your development and security teams thrive together. We’ll answer the following questions:
- What are secure software development standards?
- What is secure software development?
- Is software security the development team’s responsibility?
What is Secure Software Development?
Secure development means every step of the software supply chain follows best practices, is resilient against potential attack, and has clearly defined protocols for identifying and mitigating risks and vulnerabilities. Not only that, but a clearly defined protocol for handing security issues that come up.
In today’s digital era, enterprises rely on software more than ever, making the implications of security breaches devastating. Secure development ensures that software isn’t just functional, but is also robust against threats. It helps with:
- Protecting User Data: Data breaches often lead to significant financial and reputational damages. Secure development guards users’ sensitive data, protecting trust. A breach in this area could cost enterprises millions of dollars.
- Preventing Financial Losses: Security incidents frequently result in significant direct costs from remediation efforts and potential legal penalties, not to mention the lost revenue from eroded customer trust.
- Regulatory Compliance: Many industries are subject to regulations mandating specific security measures. Secure development ensures that software meets these requirements, avoiding penalties and sanctions.
- Maintaining System Availability: Attacks typically lead to system downtimes. By developing securely, system availability and reliability are upheld.
- Reputation Management: Organizations known for prioritizing security enjoy a competitive advantage, as they are seen as reliable and trustworthy by the customers.
- Future-proofing: With the cyber-threat landscape evolving rapidly, securely developed applications are better positioned to adapt and defend against emerging threats.
Why Secure Software Development Is Important
As we’ve mentioned earlier in this article, vulnerabilities in the development process can lead to serious consequences, from data breaches to operational disruptions. Prioritizing secure software development ensures your organization is prepared to address these risks and build trust with users.
Here are a few more key benefits:
- Protecting Sensitive Data: Secure development practices safeguard sensitive information from unauthorized access, helping to prevent costly data breaches.
- Ensuring Compliance: Many industries require adherence to strict regulatory frameworks. Embedding security measures throughout the development process helps ensure compliance with standards like GDPR, PCI-DSS, and others.
- Minimizing Business Disruptions: By addressing vulnerabilities early in the development cycle, organizations can reduce downtime caused by cyberattacks or system failures.
- Building Customer Trust: Demonstrating a proactive approach to security strengthens user confidence and enhances the organization’s reputation in the marketplace.
- Reducing Costs: Fixing security issues post-deployment is significantly more expensive than addressing them during development. Secure practices save both time and resources.
Importantly, though, to reap these benefits security teams and developers have to be aware of today’s most common security risks and vulnerabilities (and how to address them).
Common Security Risks and Vulnerabilities and Corresponding Best Practices
Here are some of the most common security risks relevant to today’s landscape. This is far from an exhaustive list, but it gives the reader a general idea of the most relevant threats and solutions.
1. Exposed Secrets
Exposed secrets, like API keys, passwords, and tokens, provide malicious cyber actors (MCAs) access to critical systems, potentially leading to data breaches, financial loss, and compromised system integrity. The repercussions can be both immediate, such as data theft, and long-lasting, like a damaged reputation. To mitigate these risks, organizations should employ secret management tools that detect, store, distribute, and rotate secrets securely. Implementing regular audits, practicing the principle of least privilege, and using automated scanning tools to detect exposed secrets in code repositories should also be part of the strategy. Further, training developers on the importance of never hardcoding secrets directly into applications can preemptively address this vulnerability.
2. Lack of Visibility
Lacking visibility into the software supply chain poses risks, including the inadvertent introduction of vulnerabilities, the use of outdated or insecure components, and potential breaches from compromised third-party software. Such blind spots could lead to costly security incidents and undermine the trust of users and stakeholders. To mitigate these risks, organizations should implement a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) to track and document every component and its provenance. Additionally, continuous monitoring tools can provide real-time insights into the supply chain’s security posture. Regular audits, vulnerability scanning, and using trustworthy 3rd party vendors further enhance the resilience and transparency of the software supply chain.
3. Generative AI and Large Language Models
Using Large Language Models (LLMs) in development introduces potential hazards, chiefly the inadvertent generation of hardcoded secrets and vulnerabilities in the produced code. If LLMs accidentally generate or expose sensitive information, such as API keys, it can provide unauthorized system access to MCAs. Furthermore, code generated by LLMs needs to be reviewed for vulnerabilities which could make applications susceptible to attacks. To counteract these risks, it’s paramount to integrate automated scanning tools to detect secrets and vulnerabilities in the AI-generated code. Pairing LLMs with thorough review processes and training developers on LLM-specific risks further ensures more secure development.
At Cycode, we recently hosted a webinar on this exact subject. Learn more here.
4. Lack of E2E Encryption
A lack of end-to-end encryption exposes data to significant risks, from eavesdropping during transmission to unauthorized access when stored. Without this encryption layer, sensitive information, such as personal details or financial transactions, becomes vulnerable to interception by MCAs or even unintended third parties. This can result in data breaches, financial theft, and a loss of user trust. To mitigate these risks, organizations should implement end-to-end encryption protocols, ensuring data remains encrypted from its origin to its intended destination. Additionally, adopting a zero-trust model, conducting regular security audits, and educating stakeholders about encryption’s importance further boost data protection and integrity throughout its lifecycle.
5. Lack of Compliance with Best Practices
Failing to adhere to best practices and standards such as SLSA (Supply-chain Levels for Software Artifacts) and SSDF (Secure Software Development Framework) can expose software projects to insecure tooling and development processes, which could have devastating consequences. This can erode trust among stakeholders and customers who seek assurance of software quality and safety. To mitigate these risks, development teams should familiarize themselves with these standards, integrate automated tools and enforce compliance checks, and conduct regular audits to ensure that coding practices align with evolving industry benchmarks.
Trends in Secure Software Development
The landscape of secure software development continues to evolve, driven by advancements in technology and changing threat dynamics. We cover this in detail in our book, Code Resilience in the Age of ASPM, but have highlighted three of the key trends shaping this field below:
AI-Powered Security Enhancements
The rise of AI has given bad actors new tools to exploit vulnerabilities, but the same technology can be a powerful ally in defending against these threats. AI is revolutionizing secure software development by enabling teams to automate threat detection and response, analyze massive volumes of code for vulnerabilities, and even predict attack vectors.
That said, organizations must be cautious about over-relying on AI. While it significantly enhances efficiency and accuracy, AI is not infallible. Human oversight remains essential to interpret results, validate findings, and tackle nuanced security challenges that AI might overlook.
Want to learn more? Expert panelists discuss how to harness AI to ship secure code faster in this on-demand webinar.
Shift Toward DevSecOps
DevSecOps is transforming how teams collaborate, ensuring that security is no longer a bottleneck but an integrated part of the development process. By automating security checks within CI/CD pipelines, teams can identify and address vulnerabilities earlier, reducing risks without slowing down development. This approach fosters closer collaboration between development, operations, and security teams, breaking down silos and creating a shared responsibility for secure software delivery.
As software ecosystems grow more complex, the future of DevSecOps will depend on advanced tools that unify workflows and provide actionable insights. The rise of ASPM is key to this shift, offering centralized visibility into risks across the entire development lifecycle. Tools like Cycode’s ASPM platform not only automate risk detection but also prioritize critical issues, ensuring teams can focus on what matters most.
By integrating solutions like Cycode, organizations can embrace the next generation of DevSecOps, equipping teams to collaborate effectively, ship secure code faster, and confidently navigate an ever-evolving threat landscape.
Focus on Secure Open Source Management
Open-source components have become a cornerstone of modern software development, enabling teams to build applications faster and more efficiently by leveraging pre-built libraries and frameworks. But this reliance on open source comes with significant security implications. Many of these components are maintained by small, often under-resourced communities, leaving them vulnerable to unpatched vulnerabilities or malicious code injections. High-profile supply chain attacks have underscored the need for better visibility and control over open-source dependencies.
To address these risks, teams are increasingly turning to Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools to identify vulnerabilities in third-party components.
While these tools provide critical visibility into open-source libraries, they often operate in isolation, focusing solely on the components themselves. To truly protect the software supply chain, SCA tools must evolve to integrate with broader security solutions, like Application ASPM platforms. These integrations can correlate open-source vulnerabilities with other risk factors—like code leaks or misconfigurations—offering a more comprehensive view of application security.
Secure Software Development is a Team Sport
You may be wondering, “Is secure development the responsibility of the developers or the security team?”
Our answer is that secure development should be a harmonized, team-driven endeavor. The problem comes, however, when application security (AppSec) professionals are seen as holding the development process back, or developers are seen as careless. How do teams bridge this gap?
With an automated, easy-to-use platform for security. We recognize that application security is a team sport, so we offer tailored workflows and automations to cater to the specific needs of both stakeholders. By empowering developers to bolster security without ever needing to leave their development environment, Cycode ensures that the process of crafting code remains seamless and efficient. At the same time, AppSecs are given robust tools to manage and oversee security protocols effectively.
What sets Cycode apart further is its commitment to UI/UX. We ensure both developers and AppSecs can navigate the platform with ease, making the collaborative process of ensuring application security more streamlined and cohesive. By committing to “Security first, developer friendly,” we give teams peace of mind from code to cloud.
Summing Up
Cycode can assist organizations in secure development, providing a comprehensive software supply chain security solution that aligns with SLSA and SSDF requirements. This includes features such as code analysis, vulnerability scanning, and pipeline security to help ensure that software is developed and delivered securely. Learn more here or book a demo!
