Course 7 - Secure SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) | Episode 4: Integrating Secure Coding, Code Review, and Application Security Testi

In this lesson, you’ll learn about: Secure Build — SDLC Phase 4 1. Overview Secure Build is the practice of applying secure requirements and design principles during the development phase. Its goal is to ensure that applications used by the organization are secure from threats. Key Participants:

• Software developers
• Desktop teams
• Database teams
• Infrastructure teams

2. Core Development Practices Secure Coding Guidelines

• Developers follow standardized rules to ensure threat-resistant code.
• Security libraries in frameworks are used for critical tasks, such as:
  • Input validation
  • Authentication
  • Data access

Secure Code Review

• Involves manual and automated review of source code to uncover security weaknesses.
• Essential checks include:
  • Proper logging of security events
  • Authentication bypass prevention
  • Validation of user input

Formal Code Review Steps:

1. Source Code Access: Obtain access to the codebase.
2. Vulnerability Review: Identify weaknesses, categorized by risk impact (e.g., financial, reputation).
3. Reporting: Remove false positives, document issues, and assess risk severity.
4. Remediation: Track and fix vulnerabilities using bug tracking systems like Jira.

3. Automated Application Security Testing Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

• White-box testing that scans source code or binaries without execution.
• Integrates with CI/CD pipelines or developer IDEs for immediate feedback.
• Supports the “shift left” approach, finding vulnerabilities early in the SDLC.
• Tools demonstrated: Coverity, LGTM

Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST)

• Gray-box testing performed while the application is running, often during functional tests.
• Monitors application activity in real-time and pinpoints exact lines of code needing fixes.
• Advantages:
  • Eliminates false positives
  • Fits Agile, DevOps, and CI/CD workflows

4. Third-Party Component Security and Code Quality Open Source Analyzers (OSA) / Secure Component Analysis (SCA)

• Ensure open-source libraries are current and free of known vulnerabilities.
• Can integrate with SAST and IAST tools.
• Resources: OWASP Dependency Check (free tool for detecting vulnerable components).

Code Quality Tools

• Identify poor coding practices, dead code, and potential security issues.
• Improving code quality correlates with enhanced overall security.
• Tools mentioned: SpotBugs, SonarQube

5. Summary

• Secure Build is Phase 4 of the Secure SDLC.
• Integrates practices including:
  • Following secure coding standards
  • Performing code reviews
  • Applying automated testing (SAST & IAST)
  • Ensuring component security and code quality
• Goal: Proactively address security during development, rather than remediating later.

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