The Software Behind Today's Cyberattacks
The lack of security for software has a more significant impact as software is increasingly integrated into crucial infrastructures including transportation and healthcare facilities, as well as personal devices. Cybercriminals are constantly scouring systems seeking vulnerabilities to exploit. Software that is not safe enough can be used to commit extortion and data breaches, in addition to other illegal activities.
The key to securing software is to avoid attacks before they happen. This requires a combination of practices including updating software and patching. It also requires secured architecture and coding best practices like using data validation, cryptography, and programming languages that safely manage memory allocations.
Nowadays, there are a number of commercially-available solutions (COTS) to ensure your system is secure. If you are building software or are part of a DevOps group, it is crucial to integrate security into the development process so that it's part of your application from the beginning. This can reduce the amount of work required to address issues in production.
The benefits of incorporating security into software far outweigh the cost. By following best practice frameworks and using security-by-design methodologies, software producers can significantly reduce the number of vulnerabilities that make it through to production, reduce the impact of undiscovered and unaddressed vulnerabilities, and swiftly address new vulnerabilities as they are discovered. It's 6x more costly to fix get redirected here a production flaw, so it's important to be able to fix it correctly in the first attempt.