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Ask HN: Best Practices for Secure Software Development(news.ycombinator.com)

45 points by securecodingfan 1 year ago | flag | hide | 17 comments

  • gnosis 1 year ago | next

    Great question! I've been practicing secure SDLC for years and here are my top suggestions:

    • gnosis 1 year ago | next

      1. Threat modeling. Always consider potential threats at every stage of the development process.

      • gnosis 1 year ago | next

        2. Input validation. Never trust anything from the outside world. Always validate user inputs and implement proper sanitation, even on existing applications.

        • cybr_buddy 1 year ago | next

          Yeah, I had a colleague who forgot to validate API requests and got into trouble. It's a common yet costly mistake.

        • whitespace_rs 1 year ago | prev | next

          Be sure to cover boundary cases and generate proper error messages.

    • nate_w 1 year ago | prev | next

      In my experience, threat modeling is crucial and should not be underestimated.

    • code_and_chaos 1 year ago | prev | next

      Use frameworks such as STRIDE or DREAD for threat modeling.

    • tik_tok 1 year ago | prev | next

      I recommend doing it at the design phase itself. So you can work on plausible solution rather than doing damage control later.

    • julia10 1 year ago | prev | next

      My organization has a centralized validation library which is quite helpful.

    • brainvire 1 year ago | prev | next

      3. Implement the principle of least privilege and avoid using superuser accounts for normal work. Run software as a non-root user and using config file with strong permissions.

      • gnosis 1 year ago | next

        4. Static application security testing and dynamic application security testing should be automated in the CI/CD pipeline, if possible.

        • sam_code55 1 year ago | next

          SaaS tools like Snyk and Veracode can be quite handy with this. Automated security scanning makes it so much easier to find vulnerabilities.

      • infosec_moose 1 year ago | prev | next

        Another suggestion I'd like to add is enforcing MFA whenever possible, especially with admin accounts.

    • elita 1 year ago | prev | next

      5. Security training and awareness. Even the best coding practices can't fully protect systems from attacks if people using them don't know what to look for or avoid.

      • gnosis 1 year ago | next

        I completely agree, it's essential now more than ever. New threats are emerging constantly.

      • code_in_space 1 year ago | prev | next

        Videos, documentation, phishing simulations, and newsletters are some ways to raise awareness among developers and non-technical staff.

  • johnny_five_alpha 1 year ago | prev | next

    These best practices are fantastic! I'd love to hear more details about establishing secure coding guidelines.