Ensuring Software Security: A Secure Development Framework

Secure Software Development Framework

Securing the software has become integral in different industries, especially where trust is critical. Customers buy or utilize the business services because they know that their sensitive information (shared with the company) will remain safe (when they share it with the organization).

Secure software development framework (SSDF) contains the best practices that make application development secure at every stage.

Security becomes the essence of software development and is baked into the code, starting when a single line of code is written, ensuring that your application resists data breaches by following specific guidelines for securing code, threat modeling, and incident response.

Secure Software Development Different from Traditional Software Development

Secure software development is a specialized approach that differs from traditional software development. The following points describe how.

Traditional Software Development

• Focuses on product’s functionality and meeting end-user requirements
• Its design principles are inclined toward usability, performance, and scalability.
• Uses common coding practices

Secure Software Development

• Prioritizes security at every stage of software development since the first line of code is written.
• The SSDF incorporates security design principles like least privilege and secure defaults.
• Utilizes secure coding techniques and code reviews for security vulnerabilities.

How Did SSDF Come into Existence?

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is responsible for grouping security standards and guidelines that help you maintain the security of your product.
The NIST 800–218 manual, known as SSDF, was created with similar intentions to support organizations in this ever-evolving digital environment.

The framework insists on employing security testing methodologies and practices throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

By emphasizing documenting the project’s security requirements, this framework helps the organization prepare people, processes, and technologies for building secure software applications.

Key Considerations of Secure Software Development Framework

No software development guarantees a hundred percent bug-free software, but secure software development helps mitigate issues to a greater extent. It allows the products/ services to meet the industry’s regulatory compliance and maintain the trust of stakeholders. However, specific points need to be considered when building an effective SSDF.

• Requirement Analysis

The process is crucial to secure software development, including defining authentication, authorization, and other security-related requirements. Requirement analysis involves examining the potential risks associated with the software development process, which helps the developers prioritize security measures.

The requirement analysis also helps gather user feedback so appropriate actions are taken, and the product aligns with user requirements. Furthermore, it also allows you to understand different business constraints so the developers can identify cost-effective security solutions.

• Threat Modeling

Assessing the risk in software development is essential to release productive and efficient software. Threat modeling identifies and evaluates different security risks in the early stages of SDLC. For instance, some applications store customers’ sensitive information; encrypting such data becomes a security requirement.

Incorporating threat modeling into software development enables the organization to align its security practices with industry standards and helps build a security-conscious culture in its entirety.

• Secure Design Principles

The secure design principles are in the “The Protection of Information in Computer Systems” paper written by Jerome H. Saltzer and Michael D. Schroeder in 1975 but are still relevant almost half a century later. Some critical design principles are listed below.

1. Economy Mechanism: It suggests using simple designs to conduct line-by-line inspections efficiently.
2. Fail-Safe Defaults: It states that the default situation is a lack of access or authorization. On the other hand, if the software mechanisms try to find conditions where user access should be refused, it creates an insecure software development environment.
3. Complete Mediation: It suggests that each request’s source must be identified and checked for authenticity. If there is any change in the authority, then it must be updated.
4. Open Design: It suggests that a design should not be a secret. Only the keys and passwords should be kept secret, and the rest (even the algorithm) should be publicly accessible.
5. Separation of Privilege: separation of privilege is about having two keys to make the protection mechanism more robust. It adds additional layers of protection. The keys can use multi-factor authentication, including biometrics, knowledge, and possession-based authentication.
6. Least Privilege: It suggests that a task can be completed without authorizing unnecessary access to the users of any service/ application. For instance, a musical app does not require access to your call history. Understand the capabilities a program needs (to run) and grant precisely those.
7. Least Common Mechanism: It suggests minimizing the use of common mechanisms as a successful attack on one user can influence others. Every shared mechanism inhibits the potential to compromise security.
8. Psychological Acceptability: It states the ability of software to be comprehensive so the users can apply security features/mechanisms in their daily routine. If the security mechanisms are counter-intuitive, they may push the users to go around them, leading to a compromised architecture.

• Secure Coding Practices

Secure coding practices are needed so users do not face app flaws and help keep the attackers at bay. “Default Deny” is one such practice where user access to sensitive data is denied unless the user is authorized to do so.

Security by design, cryptographic practices, password management, error handling, input validation, and output encoding are some of the best secure practices the developers should adopt.

Also read:- Importance of secure coding

• Security Testing and QA

Every organization has a dedicated team to test and conduct QA for products and services they release. Execution of security tests is, however, a different practice. For instance, when the developers add a click button in a web interface, they would remember to run functional checks on it but may fail to examine if it can be tempered with it.

• Security Incident Response and Management

Incident response is a technical process that helps prevent security breaches before they happen. The organization comes up with incident response processes in a planned manner that describes how cyber attacks can be identified, resolved, contained, and prevented.

Ransomware, DDoS attacks, phishing, and social engineering are some of the most common security incidents, and they are usually guided by an incident response plan (IRP). The engineers use advanced technologies like SIEM, SOAR, EDR, and XDR to manage these incident responses.

Interesting Read:- Types of SDLC Models

Conclusion

Cyber and system security have become a concern over the last few decades. Software security programs and best practices for making a secure architecture have been introduced in response to such issues. Incorporating security practices and programs makes the software/ application less susceptible to malicious actors, and SSDF lays an excellent foundation for this.

A thorough security requirement analysis, threat modeling, following secure design principles, and secure coding practices make a huge difference in building secure software solutions. It has helped organizations mitigate vulnerabilities and reduce the risk of exploitation against cyber attacks. Implementing SSDF is an ongoing endeavor, and developers should constantly refine security practices to build a safer digital environment.

FAQs

Q.) What are the benefits of using a secure software development framework?

1. Reduced Vulnerabilities- Secure software development focuses on implementing security since the beginning stages of SDLC. This helps get rid of all the potential loopholes.
2. Better Compatibility- SSDF offers a set of guidelines that are highly compatible with different DevOps tools and technologies. Developers are not required to change their approach to building software in a secure environment.
3. Makes the Code Tamper-proof- SSDF helps maintain the code’s integrity, allowing only authorized developers to access or modify the code.
4. Compliance with Industry Standards- SSDF helps the organization to comply with industrial security standards. The security guidelines in this framework align with the established industry standards.

Q.) How does secure software development differ from traditional software development?

Traditional software development focuses on building efficient and well-functioning software. The engineers’ primary focus is testing the software’s functionality and performance.

On the other hand, secure software development prioritizes security testing at every stage of SDLC. In SSDF, engineers have incorporated security mechanisms since the beginning of the software development stage and have kept them continuous.