Web-based apps, together with mobile apps, have become a necessity for businesses and everyday life. But even more important is ensuring the security of these apps and development projects. When we say securing a development project, we simply refer to the measures and practices that protect the confidentiality and integrity of software or applications.
It also involves fishing for potential software vulnerabilities and putting the necessary measures to mitigate them. A secure development project prioritizes security at every stage of the development process, including designing, developing, and testing.
One of the most effective ways of eliminating any vulnerabilities from code is at the creation stage. In doing so, businesses minimize the risk of successful cyberattacks from their software and applications. There are many other practices that businesses could adopt to minimize the risk of software vulnerabilities leading to successful cyberattacks.
In this article, we’ll look at some of the best practices for securing your development project.
Start Your Projects With the Right People
The people you hire should be extremely competent, as they can significantly impact the overall security posture of your projects. As you know, there are many different stages of the development process, and it would be in your best interest to get the right people at all these stages.
For instance, starting with people who put bad systems in place will force you to put layered security on top of an already broken system. And you cannot build secure systems on top of bad or broken systems.
Building secure systems requires a systematic approach that begins from the foundation. If the underlying systems, frameworks, or infrastructure are inherently flawed, compromised, or outdated, any additional security measures built on top of them will likely be ineffective.
And this can only be achieved with the right team in place. Hiring individuals genuinely interested in being part of your project and aligned with your vision and goals can have long-term benefits. They are more likely to stay invested, continuously learn and improve their security skills, and contribute to the ongoing security of your projects.
People need to have joy and commitment towards working on your project. It shouldn’t feel like it’s janitorial.
Enable Your Developers
Trust your developers and give them the tools to write the code fast, effectively, and, most importantly, securely. Enable your workforce and get them ready to work on secure projects.
For instance, if a new developer comes on board, familiarize them with the necessary tools and practices to help them write the secure code. Understand their biggest problems and work towards solving them.
Get your developers on board because you need to develop people as they develop software. Train and give them the appropriate tools and knowledge to build secure software.
For example, one tool that might come in handy when working with company data is a VPN. The best VPNs, like ExpressVPN, allow development teams to secure remote access, IP address masking, data protection, and secure communication. It adds an extra layer of security and privacy.
Be on the Same Page With Your Developers
Developers love to code and try out new things as part of their creative processes. However, you need to share your vision and goals with them and ensure that they strive for secure and clean code for your projects.
There needs to be mutual interests between what you and your developers are working towards. And in this case, you need to get your developers on the page with your security goals and ensure you have mutual interests.
Commit Towards the Integrity and Quality of Robustness
Speaking of robustness, committing towards the integrity and quality of robustness is another important aspect when it comes to securing development projects.
Building robust software involves designing, coding, and testing applications to make them resilient to failures, errors, and attacks. A commitment to quality and robustness helps ensure that your system can withstand potential threats while maintaining its intended functionality.
It also means that you should be smart with your tradeoffs. Security should not be a compromise. It’s understandable to work quickly towards the completion of a project, but at the same time, you need to commit to the integrity and robustness of the project.
Being smart with your tradeoffs ultimately leads to high-quality projects cloaked with appropriate security features.
Be Proficient in the Language and Framework You Use
Languages and frameworks are all different. And for this reason, your developers need to be super efficient and proficient in the languages and frameworks they use on a daily basis.
For example, if your developers code in Java, it would be incredibly naive for them to learn and look up how to secure systems in C.
Languages and frameworks and the security of how to build them securely are incredibly important. Remember, the more frameworks you introduce, the more security systems and features you’ll need. If there’s a security problem with the framework, that means there are more insecure systems altogether.
In Conclusion
Securing development projects is essential for many different purposes, including protecting sensitive data, preventing unauthorized access, and maintaining the integrity of the codebase.
As data breaches and cyber-attacks increase by the day, it’s important to develop software products that are secure from different types of cyber attacks.
For this reason, we recommend checking out FincoApps. This is a design and development company made up of young and talented people dedicated to helping businesses deliver high-quality, secure mobile and web apps.
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