How To Improve Software Security?

Given the increasing number of companies relying on digital ecosystems for their activities, secure Software Development is taking center stage. Yet, software attacks, like malicious code and malware attacks, have increased in frequency and intensity.

To ensure state-of-the-art products, you must provide highly capable software security to protect your organization from catastrophic security breaches. In this blog post, we'll learn all about software security, best practices, and step-by-step instructions to improve your company's software security. 

What is Software Security?

Software Security includes techniques and practices implemented throughout the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) to secure digital products. Yet, it's an ongoing process that includes principles like confidentiality, integrity, and availability. 

First, confidentiality ensures data is accessible only to authorized users, while integrity guarantees it remains accurate and consistent throughout the lifecycle. Finally, availability assures the systems responsible for delivering, processing, and storing information are available when needed by those who require it.

This field also contemplates IT Security, which centers on data protection of particular entities, including electronic devices. Likewise, IT security has four main types: Network, End-Point, Internet, and Cloud Security.  

Network Security refers to the security among devices connected to the same network, while End-point Security focuses on securing devices to avoid unwanted users sneaking into software or hardware. While Internet Security includes using information to prevent data interception by using multiple layers of encryption and authentication, Cloud Security revolves around reducing software security risks within the cloud. 

Here, it's important to make a special callout. IT security and cybersecurity are often mixed, yet IT security is wider, while the latter mainly focuses on online criminal activity.

A strong business security plan is key for several reasons. First, it saves data from unauthorized access, theft, or manipulation. Also, it guarantees confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of software systems according to security requirements. Beyond avoiding financial loss, legal implications, and reputation damage, maintaining a robust security culture helps to establish user trust for digital products! 

What is the Cyberattack Lifecycle?

1. Cyberattack Recognition: Recognition can be passive or active. Passive recognition is smooth and doesn’t touch a target system, while active recognition looks dynamically for system vulnerabilities. Security teams must be alert to any threats at this stage. Knowing the organization’s assets, reducing the attack surface, monitoring, and constant scanning are some strategies that will help.

2. Cyberattack Compromise: Cybercriminals discover a vulnerability in the initial recognition phase, take advantage of it, and subtly establish their presence. Software security techniques include additional layers for blocking defense, host visibility, threat modeling, and AI-based networks.

3. Cyberattack Escalation: Here, cybercriminals have similar access to the exploited applications. Security teams must include memory protection and script blocking as defense mechanisms to solve it. Slowing down attackers can give teams time to stop the attack.

4. Cyberattack Recon: In the fourth phase, cybercriminals are already inside the system, have obtained what they sought, and are moving through the network. A way to defend the system against the attack is by segmenting the network to track anomalies resulting from credential theft.

What to Consider in Software Security?

1. Security Scope

The best way to prevent a security risk is to integrate security in every stage of Software Development. Maintaining software security as a priority from the beginning can help to prevent attacks from disrupting your product! Dedicating time at the start of the process saves time and is better than solving problems as they happen.

2. Security Training

Periodically training your team on everything related to security is key to ensuring synchronization between the entire company. Ideally, you should provide education for each team member, focused on each’s work area while considering experience level. Reviewing best practices while adapting to new trends and techs can also help your team have updated knowledge on the matter.

3. Security Policies 

Security policies, including documentation and SOPs, must be clear and available for all team members to ensure nothing slips through the cracks. Ask yourself, "What are your current processes to address software security throughout the Software Development Lifecycle?" "Who is responsible for maintaining and updating security controls and protocols?" and "Are all team members aware of the software security requirements and protocols?"

4. Security Lifecycle

Including security in your Product and Software Development Lifecycles can guarantee the creation of secure software and make it a standard business practice. It’s important to take your time to find security vulnerabilities, run code reviews, and perform security composition analysis. The faster you fix vulnerabilities, the better!

5. Security Analysis

Test, test, and test! The more you test, the more likely you’ll find problems, defects, and vulnerabilities. If that happens, you should have an action plan to implement exhaustive and diverse forms to test your software. A great example of this approach is penetration testing to determine threats. 

6. Security Access

Least Privilege (PoLP) establishes the system's minimum or maximum user access level, granting different data tiers to different members. For example, an intern or temporary employee will not have the same access as a manager or business owner.

Conclusion

Improving software security can be challenging, given changing trends like Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) and the wide range of malicious attacks. Yet, if you consider safety from scratch, you're already one step ahead in creating end-to-end digital products!