Software Security Pillars

• Defense in Depth

  • Data
  • Application (This course’s focus)
  • Host
  • Internal network
  • Perimeter
  • Physical
  • Policies, procedures, awareness

• Shifting security to the left

  • Dev → Test → Staging → Production
  • Bring security in.

Pillar I: Risk Management

• Risk Management = identifying what could go wrong.
• Risk = Probability x Impact
• Security Risk = Probability of an exploit x value of an asset
• Asset = anything that requires confidentiality, integrity, or availability.
  • Domain-specific
  • Domain-independent
  • Intangible properties
• Factors that affect the probability of an exploit
  • number of vulnerabilities
  • scope of the project
  • targeted attacks (number of malicious actors)
• Risk Management Framework
  1. Understand the business context
  2. Identify the business and technical risks
  3. Synthesize, prioritize, and rank the risks
  4. Define the risk mitigation strategy
  5. Carry out fixes and validate.
• All in a business context!

Pillar II: Touchpoints

• Constructive and Destructive activities on the artifacts
• Touchpoint 1: Code Reviews
• Touchpoint 2: Architectural Risk Analysis
• Touchpoint 3: Penetration Testing
• Touchpoint 4: Risk-Based Security Testing
• Touchpoint 5: Abuse Cases
  • UML User Case Diagram
  • Creating Anti-Requirements
• Touchpoint 6: Security Requirements

Pillar III: Knowledge