It is important to have secure and separate environments for each stage of the software development, testing, and deployment process to ensure that applications are developed, tested, and deployed securely. This helps to prevent unauthorized access to data and systems and to minimize the risk of security breaches.
Provisioning and Deprovisioning
Provisioning is the process of creating or setting up a user account or resource for a new employee or service. This process involves assigning the necessary permissions, access rights, and security controls to ensure that the user or resource has the appropriate level of access to perform their duties.
Deprovisioning is the process of revoking or removing a user account or resource when an employee leaves the organization or a service is no longer needed. This process involves revoking access rights, removing security controls, and securely disposing of any data or information associated with the user or resource.
Integrity Measurement
Integrity measurement is the process of measuring the integrity of software and systems to ensure that they have not been altered or tampered with in any way. This can involve using various tools and techniques to measure the integrity of software, systems, and data, including checksumming, digital signatures, and cryptographic hashes.
The purpose of integrity measurement is to ensure that software and systems are functioning as intended and that any changes or modifications have been authorized. This helps to prevent unauthorized changes, data tampering, and security breaches. In a secure application development, deployment, and automation environment, integrity measurement is critical to ensuring that software and systems are secure and that any changes or modifications are properly managed and controlled.
Secure coding techniques
Secure coding techniques are practices and methodologies used to create software that is secure, reliable, and free of vulnerabilities. Some of the key secure coding techniques include:
Normalization: Normalization is a database design technique that involves organizing data into separate tables based on its relationships and dependencies, reducing redundancy and minimizing the risk of data corruption.
Stored procedures: Stored procedures are pre-written blocks of code that are stored in a database and executed when needed. Stored procedures can be used to enforce business rules and improve the security of an application by reducing the risk of SQL injection attacks.
Obfuscation/camouflage: Obfuscation is the process of making code or data more difficult to understand or reverse engineer. Camouflage is the process of disguising the true purpose of code or data. These techniques can help to improve the security of an application by making it more difficult for an attacker to understand the code or data and identify potential vulnerabilities.
Code reuse/dead code: Code reuse refers to the practice of using pre-existing code in new applications, while dead code refers to code that is no longer used but still present in an application. Code reuse can improve the efficiency and speed of software development, but it can also increase the risk of introducing vulnerabilities into an application. Dead code can also create security risks by providing a potential avenue for an attacker to exploit.
Server-side vs. client-side execution and validation:
Server-side execution and validation refers to processing and validating data on the server side of an application, while client-side execution and validation refers to processing and validating data on the client side. Server-side execution and validation is generally considered more secure, as it reduces the risk of data tampering or injection attacks.
Memory management: Memory management is the process of allocating, deallocating, and managing memory in a computer or software application. Improper memory management can lead to security vulnerabilities, such as buffer overflows and memory leaks, which can be exploited by attackers.
Use of third-party libraries and software development kits (SDKs): Third-party libraries and software development kits (SDKs) can simplify and streamline software development, but they can also introduce security risks, as they may contain vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers.
Data exposure: Data exposure refers to the risk of sensitive data being accidentally or intentionally disclosed to unauthorized parties. This can occur through a variety of mechanisms, such as unencrypted data storage, improper access controls, or code injection attacks. To minimize the risk of data exposure, it is important to implement strong security controls and encryption technologies to protect sensitive data.