How Vital is Security for your Application Development and Company?

We live in a connected world, technology’s everywhere, and that means software is everywhere. A simple software error or vulnerability can result in millions of dollars of losses to our companies. The tools help us find and fix problems to have the most secure offering at the end of the day. An experienced developer knows how an attacker thinks which is why in today’s world, security measures have been increased since a breach of data can easily plummet your company in an instant.

An attacker is an adversary seeking to exploit potential vulnerabilities of the system. They can come from a wide variety of people and places around the world. You may have a person, like a 17-year-old, hacking in their basement. Just because there are attackers doesn’t mean your organization has a real risk because maybe they have a very secure environment. If you do have a gap in your environment, then those threat actors could potentially cause a breach in your environment, which is a big risk

The developers building an application and attackers who want to access the application are focused on the same thing. The developers practice secure design and implementation to eliminate as many possible threats. The attackers are trying to exploit or take advantage of the threats to gain access to the application. There’s a balance between the developers trying to prevent problems and the attackers trying to take advantage of them.

Notice the developers and attackers look like the same people. The attackers aren’t wearing hoodies. There is a reason we did this. Anybody could be a potential bad actor. Not all hackers wear hoodies. Having a great tech background allows you to be a really good penetration tester or an attacker or a developer.

The goal is providing a foundational view of security, having a workforce that has a secure foundation, developing security from the date that they start. In addition to that, everybody has a responsibility. Shared responsibility needs to be a theme in every organization.