What are secure development standards?
Secure Development Standards are best practices and guidelines used in software development to ensure applications are secure, resilient, and protected against cyber threats.
These standards help prevent security vulnerabilities like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), buffer overflows, and misconfigurations.
🔹 Why Are Secure Development Standards Important?
✅ Prevents Cyber Attacks – Reduces the risk of security flaws in software.
✅ Ensures Compliance – Meets security requirements like ISO 27001, NIST, GDPR, PCI DSS.
✅ Builds Customer Trust – Users feel safer using secure applications.
✅ Reduces Costs – Fixing security issues early is cheaper than after a breach.
🔹 Key Secure Development Standards
1️⃣ OWASP Secure Coding Practices 🔐
🔹 OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) provides guidelines to secure web applications.
🔹 Focuses on authentication, input validation, cryptography, and error handling.
🔹 Example: Prevent SQL Injection by using parameterized queries instead of raw SQL.
➡️ Standard: OWASP Secure Coding Practices
2️⃣ ISO/IEC 27034 (Application Security) 📜
🔹 Provides guidelines for secure application development as part of an ISO 27001 Information Security Management System (ISMS).
🔹 Helps businesses integrate security at every stage of development.
➡️ Standard: ISO/IEC 27034
3️⃣ NIST Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF) 🏛️
🔹 Created by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) to define best practices for secure coding.
🔹 Emphasizes secure design, implementation, verification, and ongoing monitoring.
➡️ Standard: NIST SP 800-218 (SSDF)
4️⃣ PCI DSS Secure Coding Guidelines 💳
🔹 Required for companies that handle payment card data (credit/debit card transactions).
🔹 Focuses on encrypting sensitive data, securing APIs, and patching vulnerabilities.
➡️ Standard: PCI DSS Secure Software Framework
5️⃣ Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) 🏗️
🔹 A framework by Microsoft for integrating security into the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
🔹 Includes threat modeling, secure coding, and regular security testing.
➡️ Standard: Microsoft SDL
🔹 Best Practices for Secure Development
✅ Follow the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) – Limit user and system access to only what’s necessary.
✅ Use Secure Authentication – Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), OAuth, SAML.
✅ Validate All Inputs – Prevent SQL Injection, XSS, and Buffer Overflow attacks.
✅ Encrypt Sensitive Data – Use AES-256 encryption for data at rest and TLS 1.2+ for data in transit.
✅ Perform Regular Security Testing – Use Static & Dynamic Analysis (SAST & DAST), Penetration Testing.
✅ Keep Software Updated – Patch vulnerabilities regularly to prevent exploits.