Integrating Vulnerability Management Into The Application Development Process

Software developers are only human, which means that complex application code will include errors and bugs. This means that scanning and combing new application code for security flaws are part of virtually every software development process. But not all developers approach vulnerability discovery the same way -- and very few of them catch all of their code vulnerabilities on the first try.

The application development process

The effects of coding errors can be crippling. In 2003, a bug in General Electric's monitoring software cut off power to an estimated 50 million people. More recently, Knight Capital's computers erroneously executed a series of automatic stock orders that brought the company to the edge of bankruptcy, while HTC America has had to settle a civil suit with the Federal Trade Commission after a modification to the software on its Android- and Windows-based phones introduced numerous security vulnerabilities.

The pressure to get new products ready for market imposes accelerated timetables on developers, resulting in even more mistakes. When first released, Apple's Maps app, for example, was plagued with errors, damaged Apple's reputation and cost the executive held responsible his job. (It also led to a very public apology from Apple CEO Tim Cook.)

Integrating Vulnerability Management Into The Application Development Process | The Dark Reading