Application security is complicated — but it doesn’t have to be impossibly complex. In fact, it can actually be quite simple (even though simple doesn’t mean easy). Fundamentally, application security is about designing, building, and maintaining secure software. Good software helps organizations, and bad software hurts them.
Over the course of my career, I’ve identified four categories of application security activities to focus on when starting on the road to a mature application security program: Govern, Find, Fix, and Prevent.
Here, I’ll dive into each category to deconstruct and demystify application security:
Govern
To do application security well, you must govern the application security program.
There are a number of high-level factors to consider when you are thinking about application security. These include compliance regulations, relationships with other organizations, and having a solid understanding of what it is you are supposed to be securing in the first place. It is also important to define metrics upfront so you can demonstrate the success of your program over time.
Find
To do application security well, you must find security issues.
There are many ways to find security problems at different points in any software development lifecycle, whether your organization follows a waterfall, agile, or DevOps methodology.
For example, pentesting is a foundation for testing an organization’s security measures, and it can provide critical feedback on areas that need to be addressed. To simplify things further, security problems exist in two broad categories: bugs and flaws. You can think of bugs as code-level security issues and flaws as design-level security issues. Once you’ve identified your security issues, it’s time to move on to step three.
Fix
To establish application security well, you must fix security issues.
It is not good enough to just focus on finding security issues. The quality of software does not improve until the problems you’ve identified are addressed and eliminated. Fixing security issues requires effective communication, coordination, and integration with development teams and processes.
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Prevent
To do application security well, you must prevent security issues from happening in the first place.
The people who build software must understand why vulnerable code is insecure. Developers must be empowered with tech stack-specific knowledge and tools to help them avoid creating security bugs and flaws in the first place. Ideally, good programming practices and well-designed frameworks make it easier for developers to write secure software by default and harder for them to make mistakes.
Cloud environments must be configured correctly in order to prevent security vulnerabilities from being exploited, and attacks must be discovered and stopped as early as possible in order to minimize damage.
All in all, the successful implementation of an application security program hinges upon the simplification of teams and processes. Focus on the four categories of application security, and you will be on the road to application security maturity in no time.
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