How to Prevent Cybersecurity Threats With Secure Code

Unfortunately, cybersecurity attacks are an ever-present threat for organizations of all sizes and industries. In fact, a cybersecurity threat is estimated to occur every 39 seconds. For that reason, it is important to understand the how, what and why of cybersecurity threats.

The How, What and Why of Cybersecurity Threats

Any malicious attack that threatens to damage software applications is considered to be a cybersecurity threat.

In order to ensure that your software is safeguarded against any and all cybersecurity threats, you must take the appropriate steps, which includes:

Having an understanding of what the most common types of cybersecurity threats that you’ll most likely encounter.
Adopting effective secure coding practices.
Providing your team with software security training.
Using secure software tools — like static code analysis and SAST tools.

By following these steps, you can more effectively safeguard your software.

How to Prevent Cybersecurity Threats

In order to prevent cybersecurity threats, you should use the following secure software development best practices:

Establish Software Design Requirements

You should establish software design requirements specifically to prevent and/or mitigate cybersecurity threats. By doing this, you can better address and eliminate potential threats.

Enforce Secure Coding Standards for Cybersecurity Threats

Software that is developed with secure coding standards—such as CERT and CWE—helps to prevent, detect and eliminate cybersecurity threats.

Test Early for Cybersecurity Threats

You should test your code early and often to identify potential vulnerabilities in your code that could lead to a cybersecurity attack.

How SAST Tools Help to Prevent Cybersecurity Threats

With the appropriate tools — such as static code analysis and SAST tools — you can better ensure the security and quality of your software. The reason for this is that both a static code analysis and SAST tool are able to automate vulnerability detection, test all of your code as it is being written, and easily integrates into your DevSecOps processes.