As tech product and service companies strive to become more proactive than reactive when it comes to cybersecurity, many dev teams are adopting security as code principles. By integrating security measures directly into the software development life cycle and wisely leveraging automation, dev teams can standardize security protocols, spot potential weaknesses early on and keep security top of mind at all points in the process.
Adopting SaC takes careful planning—while it’s important to be thorough, moving too quickly may overwhelm dev teams who are already tasked with heavy workloads. Below, members of Forbes Technology Council share their expert tips to ensure the effective and impactful implementation of SaC practices.
1. Consider Problem-Based Training
Consider problem-based training based on historical vulnerabilities. If you have a catalog or backlog, leverage it to identify recurring vulnerabilities and focus training accordingly. Take baby steps: Start by focusing on one class of common vulnerabilities. Train developers on prevention methods, and then move on to the next category. This approach helps prevent developers from feeling overwhelmed while also creating awareness. – Eoin Keary, Edgescan
2. Prioritize Thorough Testing And An Ownership Mentality
Good testing is often as important as security-specific tooling. If you test business logic and/or complex interactions that touch things like identity and access management, it will prevent simple mistakes that could leave wide-open vulnerabilities. It also helps to reinforce secure coding best practices and create an ownership mentality across teams—security should always be top of mind. – Julianna Lamb, Stytch
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3. Integrate Ongoing Testing And Monitoring
Implementing security as code means actively identifying and addressing vulnerabilities early in the development process. By integrating ongoing testing and monitoring, teams can detect and fix threats quickly. Embedding security measures throughout development strengthens the codebase, resulting in a secure and reliable product that earns users’ trust and protects the company’s reputation. – Tom Amburgey, Euna Solutions
4. Adopt DevSecOps
My advice is to start including security components from the very beginning, as it’s more expensive and complex to add them later on. By adopting DevSecOps, teams can integrate security checks, vulnerability assessments and access controls into every step of the development process, minimizing risks and streamlining security efforts for the future. – Grayson Milbourne, OpenText
5. Embrace Shift-Left Testing
Shift-left testing moves testing to an earlier point in the software development life cycle. Conducting critical testing for security vulnerabilities earlier in the process ensures security is front of mind during initial code development, instead of “bolted on” near the end. The earlier you can address security concerns, the more deeply embedded security will be in your code. – Matt Dickson, Eclipse Telecom
6. Show Stakeholders You Understand Its Importance
As code increasingly forms the foundation of businesses, it’s long past time for security and coding to be coupled together from the start. Investing in security as code is a sign that leadership understands the importance of cybersecurity, as protecting an organization’s digital environment is part of their fiduciary responsibility to clients. – Mike Lefebvre, SEI
7. Leverage Automation And Prioritization
Security as code involves embedding security policies, checks and measures directly into the development process to ensure that security considerations are part of every phase of the software development life cycle. However, it will only work if developers don’t treat it as noise. Automation (as part of continuous integration and continuous delivery) and focusing on each issue’s criticality are musts to ensure SaC helps, rather than hinders, developers. – Amrit Jassal, Egnyte
8. Integrate Automated Scans And AI-Generated Solutions
Implement security by design from the start. Integrate automated scans into CI/CD pipelines, enforcing policies that break builds when vulnerabilities are detected. Leverage tools that present AI-generated fixes for security flaws to empower developers. By embedding automated security measures into teams’ familiar environments, SaC is seamlessly integrated into the development life cycle. – Chris Wysopal, Veracode
9. Start Slowly And Scale Gradually
Don’t try to integrate all security practices at once; that’s ineffective. Start by embedding basic security checks into your CI/CD pipeline. This gives you the ability to catch vulnerabilities early in the development process and address issues before they escalate. As your codebase grows, gradually layer in more security features, scaling protection while keeping the process manageable for your team. – Max Votek, Customertimes
10. Implement Testing During Code Reviews
Start by integrating security checks early in the development pipeline. Implement automated testing for vulnerabilities during code reviews and continuous integration. This helps catch issues early, reduces risks and ensures security becomes a natural part of the development workflow. – Praveen Tripathi, HCLTech
11. Leverage An External Policy Engine
Security as code often comes up when implementing dynamic access control using strategies like attribute-based access control. Ensuring the maintainability of such code should be a top priority, as access policies may change as a business evolves. By leveraging an external policy engine and only accessing policy APIs through code, you can avoid recoding when policies change without sacrificing dynamic access control. – Atul Tulshibagwale, SGNL.ai
12. Gamify The Process
In addition to the regular security checks available in the market through DevOps and CI/CD processes, an out-of-the-box approach is to gamify security as code by creating a points or badge system through which developers earn rewards for fixing vulnerabilities or following security best practices. A leaderboard fosters friendly competition, making security fun and promoting a proactive, secure coding mindset across the team. – Sumit Bhatnagar
13. Embed These Three Processes In Your Workflow
When implementing security as code, go beyond CI/CD by embedding secrets management, vulnerability detection and autonomous defense mechanisms directly into your development workflow. Use tools that automatically detect and rotate secrets, monitor for real-time vulnerabilities, and deploy AI-driven autonomous defense systems that respond to threats in real time. – Jo Debecker, Wipro
14. Prioritize Critical Vulnerabilities
Start small and automate wisely. Integrate security tools early in your CI/CD pipeline, but avoid overloading developers with noise. Prioritize critical vulnerabilities and use version-controlled, testable code for security policies. Treat security as code with the same rigor as application code. Consistent reviews, testing and iteration are key to success. – Jennifer Gold, Risk Aperture
15. Ensure Security Rules Evolve
When starting with security as code, prioritize security policy versioning. Treat security rules as modular, living components, ensuring they evolve alongside application development. This adaptability allows for quick response to emerging threats without overhauling the entire system, making security an integrated and scalable part of the development cycle. – Roman Vinogradov, Improvado
16. Provide Ongoing Security Training
My advice is to prioritize continuous learning and security training for your development team. Implementing security as code works best when developers understand security risks and best practices. Regular training ensures they write secure code from the start and make security an integral part of the development process, rather than relying solely on tools to catch vulnerabilities later. – Vamsi Vemoori
17. Ensure Devs Don’t Rely On SaC Too Heavily
Avoid the mistake of thinking that SaC is going to replace cybersecurity ability. The point of SaC is to achieve the elusive dream of integrating security policies, procedures and measures directly into the coding process. Think of SaC as an advanced set of guardrails that helps knowledgeable developers move forward with confidence. But educate developers to leverage it, not rely on it. – James Stanger, CompTIA
18. Establish Immutable Infrastructure
Immutable infrastructure helps maintain consistent security configurations across all environments, minimizing the risk of configuration drift, which can lead to vulnerabilities. By keeping infrastructure unchanged and secure from development through deployment, teams can effectively reduce security risks and enhance system integrity. – Vamsi Krishna Dhakshinadhi, GrabAgile Inc.
19. Analyze And Scan All Your Commits Before Deployment
The build pipeline is your friend. Run static analysis tools, custom security scanners, linters, password scanners and so on for all your commits before they get built, packaged and deployed. Software supply chain attacks are becoming more common, and they can be avoided by building all your products from code in your repository, signing your packages and verifying their integrity before deploying. – Deepak Bhaskaran, Cisco Systems Inc.
20. Make Security Visible
Focus on making security visible, not just executable. Create dashboards that gamify security metrics, showing teams their “security health score” trends over time. This creates healthy competition between teams and makes abstract security concepts tangible. When developers can visualize the impact of their security choices, they’re more likely to prioritize security as part of their daily workflow. – Belal Shaheen
