Authoress: Kateryna Ivanenko, Brand Manager (Invicti & Acunetix) at CoreWin
In the modern world, development of web applications requires not only attention to functionality, but also to security. It is important to consider potential risks at all stages to minimize the possibility of cyberattacks. To achieve this, security testing can be implemented in the development. It ensures timely detection and remediation of vulnerabilities before they go into production, therefore before being available to users.
This article lists 8 best practices for web application security in SDLC, which can help organizations to improve the protection of their web assets and increase productivity.
What is SDLC?
SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) is a software creation process, that consists of many stages with their own goals and objectives:
- Planning
- Analysis and defining requirements
- Design
- Implementation (coding)
- Testing
- Deployment
- Maintenance
Benefits of implementing security in SDLC
Integrating security into this process is very significant, as it helps companies in various aspects:
- Decreasing the likelihood of successful cyberattacks by detecting and fixing vulnerabilities at the development stage.
- Reducing potential losses and delays due to security issues in production.
- Facilitating compliance with standards such as PCI DSS, ISO 27001, and others.
Best practices for security in SDLC
1. Considering security at early stages
Attention to security should be paid from the very beginning of the development cycle. It helps to reduce risks even before the project implementation, providing the basis for building a secure web application. It corresponds with the principle of “secure by design”, which is a part of a proactive approach to AppSec.
2. Automation
Automated security testing tools can reduce the time and effort required to find and fix vulnerabilities. This includes not only scanning, but also automatic creation of tickets, reports, and processes configurations.
In addition, DAST solutions for web application security Invicti (formerly Netsparker) and Acunetix provide functionality for automatic confirmation of most serious flaws and showing evidence of their existence (Proof-Based Scanning, Proof of Exploit technologies), when it is technically possible. It allows teams to avoid wasting resources on excessive manual rechecks, which increases their productivity.
3. Out-of-the-box integrations
If a company uses automated scanners to check web applications for vulnerabilities, the most convenient option for SDLC is a seamless integration with a CI/CD tool and an issue tracking system for creating tickets. It allows as quick and easy implementation of security in the development cycle as possible.
4. High-quality remediation
To increase the level of web application security, it is vital to ensure proper and prompt fixes of vulnerabilities. Recommendations for remediation, as well as specialized reports, can be generated using scanners.
In addition, Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST, gray-box testing) technology can often provide the line number of code of a specific file that needs to be fixed to eliminate a vulnerability. Thus, allowing to significantly speed up and optimize remediation.
To ensure that the fix is correct, the functionality of issue retesting can be used, which checks whether the problem has really been solved.
5. Regular checks
An important condition for the effectiveness of security testing in the SDLC is its regularity. Too rare checks may not bring the desired result, mainly when it comes to maintaining web applications in production. Since during a long break between tests, especially if the resource is changed regularly, new vulnerabilities might appear, posing a significant threat.
6. Trends monitoring
To improve SDLC processes, information about web application security trends and graphs can be leveraged, which is usually available in dashboards of AppSec solutions. It is useful for noticing potential issues.
For example, an increase in the average time to fix vulnerabilities may indicate that teams face additional difficulties in that, and more defects might be related to lack of knowledge about secure coding practices.
7. Asset inventory
The more web applications and APIs an organization develops, the more difficult it becomes to monitor their security. Therefore, it is recommended to create an inventory of these assets for further testing, at the development stage as well. This can be done either manually or by using specialized tools for convenience and simplification.
For example, Invicti and Acunetix platforms can search for Internet-facing websites of the company, as well as detect known and undocumented APIs both in and before production.
8. Access control
In addition to security testing, it is also important to define the specific user permissions in the system. Built-in or custom roles can be leveraged to provide team members with rights that are sufficient to perform their tasks, but not excessive, which is a part of the least privilege principle.
It is also useful to implement two-factor authentication for additional protection and to be able to review user activity logs to identify violators in case of internal incidents.
Conclusion
Integrating security into the software development life cycle (SDLC) is a strategic step towards creating reliable web applications for organizations. Using best practices can increase the success of this implementation, simplifying it and strengthening the security posture.
