The most significant cybersecurity vulnerability and risk in contemporary system development is the lack of security throughout the early phases of system engineering. As software supply chain attacks grow more sophisticated and aggressive, businesses must recognize that they cannot treat cybersecurity as an afterthought or an extra step in their processes. Incorporating security into the software development process offers additional advantages, including increased productivity and enhanced client satisfaction. However, its greatest benefit lies in its ability to manage cybersecurity risks more effectively than traditional methods of providing software security.

DevSecOps: From Afterthought to Forethought

A rising star in the current hunt for efficient cybersecurity solutions is DevSecOps. The DevSecOps market is anticipated to develop at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.84% from 2023 to 2030, reaching a valuation of $23.63 billion. It was valued at approximately $4.27 billion in 2022.

In actuality, this double-digit growth is a little conservative. Higher CAGRs in the 30% area were predicted by some sources. This expansion suggests that there is a high need for DevSecOps solutions. Instead of adopting security validation techniques in bulk as a distinct step at the end of the development process, many businesses are beginning to recognize the advantages of doing so early in the software development life cycle (SDLC).

Today, many companies believe that shifting security to the left or introducing it earlier in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) will benefit them. They use tools and methods such as source composition analysis, automated dynamic analysis, interactive application security testing (IAST), and static code analysis (SCA) to fix security flaws before launching an application. By addressing most flaws and vulnerabilities upfront, companies can release apps more quickly and provide significantly better user experiences.

While vulnerabilities can never be eliminated, incorporating security validation into the software development process can significantly reduce and more effectively address them. When security testing occurs separately, certain software flaws and vulnerabilities become more challenging to fix, as it requires thorough code tracing or review. In contrast, conducting security validation alongside development allows teams to quickly identify and address the impacted code.

Resolving Attacks on Software Supply Chains

DevSecOps strengthens supply chain security by providing crucial visibility and control. By integrating security practices throughout the development lifecycle, rather than as a separate, later stage, teams gain comprehensive oversight of potential vulnerabilities. This allows for rapid identification and remediation, especially when combined with automated security scanning tools that monitor code from initial development through deployment.

Static Testing: Static testing can be done on an application to identify vulnerabilities even before the code is ready to run. Code can be analyzed and potential security issues can be found using tools like static application security testing (SAST).

How does this approach address attacks on software supply chains? Automated CI/CD pipelines can be supplemented with static testing to prevent code with security flaws from being committed to the codebase.

Dynamic testing: You can subject executable code to automated dynamic analysis using dynamic application security testing (DAST) techniques. These techniques uncover vulnerabilities that static application security testing (SAST) often misses, revealing issues that only become apparent when the code is executed.

How does this approach address attacks on software supply chains?To find security vulnerabilities in apps that are already executable, organizations can use automated black-box testing for apps in the CI/CD pipeline(s). This lowers the expenses related to the necessary repair while addressing the vulnerabilities that static testing was unable to identify.

Interactive app testing: In this case, static and dynamic testing work together. IAST tools create custom dynamic tests for a specific application while simultaneously performing static testing on the available code, allowing for a more comprehensive identification of issues.

How does this approach address attacks on software supply chains? While interactive testing addresses vulnerabilities that emerge later in the development process, pure static and dynamic testing usually focuses on earlier stages. By integrating IAST into the CI/CD pipeline, organizations can enhance their ability to detect security issues and prevent the deployment of malicious code.

Supply chain analysis: To achieve this, organizations must use tools specifically designed to assess the security of third-party libraries and dependencies. It’s important to note that there are various methods to address vulnerabilities in the software supply chain. In this context, the term “supply chain” refers to external libraries, dependencies, and other components not created by the development team.

How does this approach address attacks on software supply chains? Integrating software supply chain analysis tools into the CI/CD pipeline significantly reduces the negative impacts of vulnerabilities in dependencies and other components on a project’s codebase and the development process itself.

Security-as-Code

One of the best practices emerging from the integration of security into the software development process is implementing security-as-code. This approach means translating security policies and procedures, such as testing and validation, into code whenever possible. In other words, security features are embedded directly within the code. Every time developers commit code, automated security testing kicks in, ensuring robust, reliable, and scalable security that doesn’t rely on external regulations and controls to prevent harmful inputs or unusual code.

When the DevSecOps team employs security-as-code, they can monitor how changes are made to both the code and the supporting infrastructure. This visibility allows the team to streamline processes and avoid unnecessary delays by mapping out the impacts of code modifications and identifying where to apply security tests and regulations effectively.

In essence, security-as-code automates security procedures. However, it isn’t always applicable, making it essential to understand the security testing techniques that can be implemented at different stages of the development process.

Conclusion

All enterprises should pay close attention to the SUNBURST incident and other high-profile attacks of this nature to safeguard their software supply chains. One of the best options currently available is DevSecOps. While it cannot guarantee the complete elimination of all threats, it ensures that any breach will be detected if threat actors manage to bypass security measures.