When you’re developing a new application, security is vital in order for your application to be successful. However, many businesses and developers rely heavily on security tools to do the job for them, and while these tools are essential for protecting your applications, they are only part of how you can protect your assets from security threats.
In this article, we’ll explain some of the top practices you can implement in order to properly protect your applications from external security threats, leaving you with more time to focus on creating new features instead of spending all your time on risk assessments and security testing.
Integrate Security Tools
When it comes to security testing, many developers will remember the days of the manual process, using vulnerability scanners and open-source penetration testing. However, with the advancement of today’s technology, manual testing is a thing of the past. There are many security tools to choose from that will limit the need for manual testing, and some even automate the process for you, but which tools you need will depend on the type of applications you are creating. It is vital that you don’t rely solely on integrated security tools, though, as this could reduce the effectiveness of your security strategy.
Include The Whole Team
Many businesses leave security to a specialized department; however, as businesses grow, this will cause those departments to become reactive as they will be unable to stay ahead of the developers. Instead, make sure your whole team is involved in the process, as this will allow you to remain proactive against security threats. With all the developers in your team aware of potential vulnerabilities, risks, and security threats, they will feel responsible for ensuring the best practices are followed in their own work and code, leading to your team developing highly secure applications.
Furthermore, as security testing takes time and can leave your team playing catch up on their primary duties after spending days running checks, why not consider utilizing a third party to run your application security testing? Your team can focus their efforts on creating new features for your existing applications or creating entirely new applications when they don’t have to focus on security testing, which will lead to an increase in productivity and efficiency; if you’re interested in learning more, head over to ForAllSecure to check out this security testing solution.
Develop Secure Strategies
In order to create secure applications, your team needs to have the right strategies in place which will provide proper practices that they can follow. The right strategies will give your team processes that will help them when writing code by removing the risk of errors and helping them spot and remove these errors at the earliest opportunity. Your secure strategies should also include training that allows your developers to understand the coding techniques they should use to avoid vulnerabilities in the code.
Furthermore, these processes will also improve the quality checks your team perform and will flag potential vulnerabilities quickly, which will mean that your team is able to fix issues as they arise rather than later in the project when they may have forgotten which aspects they were working and the coding they need to change to close gaps in vulnerabilities.
Create Cybersecurity Framework
Every business needs a proper cybersecurity framework, which are dedicated strategies designed to create essential steps, such as security checklists and incident response plans alongside detailed information on potential security risks that could impact your applications or the wider company. These strategic plans are ideal for both small and large organizations as they treat the digital aspects of a company as a single entity and, as a result, provide more security across all areas of a business.
Diversify Your Security Measures
When creating your strategies and integrating tools in your security processes, you should also consider diversifying the measures you put in place. A single tool alongside your proper practices may seem like all you need in order to cover risks, but having multiple automated processes integrated within the business as a whole is the best way to ensure the applications and company are protected from external threats.
Perform Mock Attacks
A fantastic way you can ensure the security of your applications is to run mock attacks, also known as penetration testing, which will allow you to spot vulnerabilities early and fix them before a program goes live. Additionally, as the digital world is constantly evolving, it is a good idea to perform these actions on live programs out of hours in order to test for any new vulnerabilities that may have developed as technology has advanced. This approach will allow you to make updates to existing applications where needed and prevent any gaps in your cybersecurity from occurring, which could lead to a data breach further down the line.
Using these techniques and others, as a means of protecting your business from external threats are all sure ways of ensuring you can continue to work as normal in the face of adversity. Whether you choose to implement just one method, or a whole host of them, know the efforts you are making now will pay off both in the short and long term.
