In today’s digital age, software applications form the backbone of numerous industries, driving everything from business operations to social interactions. However, the increasing reliance on software also makes it a prime target for cyber threats. Software flaws and poor coding practices can lead to crippling consequences for organisations, including data breaches, financial loss and reputational damage.
Most notably, the infamous WannaCry cyber attack occurred when a Microsoft security vulnerability was exploited by ransomware. The impact of the WannaCry ransomware attack was substantial, disrupting services across a third of hospital trusts and around 8% of GP practices. The estimated total cost of restoring the affected systems reached £92 million, according to the Department of Health & Social Care.
More recently, the 2024 global technology outage sparked by CrowdStrike’s faulty update will cost US Fortune 500 companies $5.4bn.
To mitigate these risks, developers must adopt secure coding practices.
Understanding Secure Coding
Secure coding is the practice of writing software in a way that guards against the introduction of security vulnerabilities. It involves a set of principles, guidelines, and techniques that developers should follow to prevent common security issues, such as data breaches, unauthorised access, and other cyber threats.
Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP)
OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) is a non-profit foundation that works to improve the security of software. In 2021, OWASP released their updated ‘Top 10 Web Application Security Risks’ to raise awareness of the current security landscape and improve the security of software.
Their Top 10 is a standard awareness document which represents a broad consensus about the most critical security risks to web applications list of threats. This current list is based on an expanded number of Common Weakness Enumerators (CWE’s), which are part of a system for categorising software weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
The main difference this time around is that OWASP has created their list from a root-cause perspective, as opposed to a combination of root-cause and symptom. This means that some topics which found their own place in the 2017 Top 10 have now been integrated into other overarching threats, whilst still remaining relevant as an issue for developers. For example, Cross-Site Scripting now finds itself as a symptom of SQL Injection and not a separate threat.
The 2021 Top 10 also defines the need for a fundamental shift in how software is designed, and as a result, Insecure Design now finds itself as a main threat in the list. This new addition to the Top 10 takes into account the increasing risks to application security by ensuring that solid advice exists for integrating security concepts at each stage of the Software Development Lifecycle.
Why Secure Coding Matters
- Data Protection: Ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data.
- Regulatory Compliance: Helps meet legal and industry standards like GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS.
- Reputation Management: Prevents damage to a company’s reputation due to security breaches.
- Cost Savings: Reduces the cost associated with security incidents and breaches.
Secure Coding eLearning Series
All too often professional programmers and testers are unfamiliar with the principles used to secure software and common web application vulnerabilities. The reality is that a small flaw in the development of software can cause a major incident.
To help organisations embed a culture of secure coding, MetaCompliance released it’s Secure Coding Series, which seeks to distil the information collated by OWASP into a format which can be easily digested by anyone who needs to be aware of application security issues.
Each topic in the Top 10 has its own dedicated module which covers:
- Defining the threat
- Understanding how to identify the threat
- How to check your application for vulnerabilities
- Mitigating the risk from the identified threat
For each topic, there is a robust assessment which takes into account the importance of the risk to your organisation, by rigorously examining your learner’s knowledge of the Top 10 threat.
The topics covered are:
- What is Secure Coding?
- Broken Access Control
- Cryptographic Failures
- SQL Injection
- Insecure Design
- Security Misconfiguration
- Vulnerable and Outdated Components
- Identification and Authentication Failures
- Software and Data Integrity Failures
- Security Logging and Monitoring Failures
- Server-Side Request Forgery
Watch the trailer here
To find out more about MetaCompliance’s cyber security eLearning , click here.
