What is Code Security?

Code security is the practice of enhancing the security of application code. Often, production applications contain vulnerabilities that make them vulnerable to attack, resulting in data breaches and other undesirable outcomes. Code security reduces this risk by increasing the probability that issues will be identified and corrected before applications are released, reducing the risk to the organization and its users.

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What is Code Security?

The Importance of Code Security

Vulnerabilities in software are a significant and growing problem. In 2023, over 29,000 new Common Vulnerability Enumeration (CVE) numbers were issued for newly discovered vulnerabilities. This is the seventh year of YoY increases and a nearly 5x increase when compared to 2016.

Software vulnerabilities pose various threats to software and its users. Exploitation of vulnerabilities can cause an application to crash or expose the sensitive data of its users. Code security has the potential to reduce the volume and severity of vulnerabilities that exist in production systems. If a potential flaw is identified and fixed before release, the threat that it poses to users is eliminated, and the cost of fixing it is much lower than if it reached production.

Types of Code Security

Code security is a general term for managing vulnerabilities in any of the code or applications that an organization develops or manages. This can be broken up into a few main categories, including the following:

  • IaC Security: Infrastructure as Code (IaC) uses software to manage the deployment and configuration of virtualized infrastructure. IaC errors can introduce configuration issues that leave systems vulnerable to attack. IaC security works to ensure that IaC programs are correctly written and implemented.
  • Application Security (AppSec): Application security focuses on protecting program code from potential vulnerabilities. Often, this focuses on code that is written in-house by an organization’s development team. This code may contain various security risks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), or buffer overflows.
  • Software Supply Chain Security: Most applications incorporate third-party code in the form of libraries, dependencies, and copy-pasted code. This external code can contain vulnerabilities that make the application vulnerable to attack. Software supply chain security attempts to identify and manage vulnerable dependencies and third-party code in a program’s codebase.

Code Security Tools and Techniques

Several tools exist to help with enhancing code security, and some of the most commonly used include:

  • Static Application Security Testing (SAST): SAST tools analyze the source code of an application for potential vulnerabilities. Since the code doesn’t need to be complete or runnable, SAST can be used early in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). However, it can only identify issues visible in the code itself, missing configuration or runtime vulnerabilities.
  • Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST): DAST tools analyze a running application, providing it with various inputs and analyzing its responses and behavior. Since it requires a runnable application, DAST is applied later in the SDLC but can identify vulnerabilities that SAST tools will miss.
  • Software Composition Analysis (SCA): SCA focuses on identifying supply chain security risks to an application. It analyzes the third-party libraries and dependencies used by the application and identifies components with known vulnerabilities.

How Code Security Fits into the Development Process

Historically, code security was mainly performed in the Testing phase of the SDLC, right before release. However, this left limited time and resources for identifying and fixing issues, increasing the number of vulnerabilities that reached production code.

 

DevSecOps focuses on “shifting security left” or moving it earlier in the SDLC. Instead of waiting until the Testing phase, security requirements are defined in the Requirements stage and tested automatically throughout the development process. For example, before code is accepted to a repository, SAST and SCA can be used to identify potential vulnerabilities and unsafe imports. Continuous delivery (CD) pipelines can also be leveraged to build release candidates that are assessed using DAST.

 

By performing testing soon after the code is written, a development team limits the time and cost associated with addressing any issues. Additionally, finding bugs early can help to prevent the same mistakes from being written in the future.

Code Security Best Practices

Some code security best practices include the following:

  • Educate Developers: Vulnerabilities in software typically occur because a developer writes insecure code or imports a vulnerable library. Educating developers on common vulnerabilities and supply chain security risks can help with avoiding these issues.
  • Shift Security Left: Often, security is considered late in the SDLC, if it is managed at all. Integrating security into every stage of the SDLC and creating a culture of security reduces the risk of security flaws reaching production systems.
  • Automate Security Testing: The DevOps ethos is built on automating tasks to remove roadblocks and improve efficiency. Automating security testing makes it easier to perform rapid, frequent tests, increasing the probability that issues will be detected and fixed early in the SDLC.
  • Be Proactive: Security scanning is inherently reactive because it is designed to identify vulnerabilities that already exist in an organization’s software. Proactive threat modeling can help to identify potential future risks that can be prevented rather than corrected.

Code Security with CloudGuard Spectral

Strong code security is essential to ensuring software functionality and protecting the organization’s customers against attacks. To learn more about building security into the development of cloud applications, check out the Buyer’s Guide for DevSecOps Cloud Security.

Check Point CloudGuard Spectral provides the tools and capabilities needed to ensure code security throughout the SDLC. To learn more about how to better protect your applications against attack, sign up for a free demo today.

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