Rohit Sethi and Ehsan Foroughi spoke at OWASP Boston Application Security Conference 2012

Pitfalls of Secure SDLC and How to Succeed With Automation

People have been talking about secure Software Development Life Cycles (SDLCs) for years, but there has been little traction in scaling secure SDLC activities outside of a few very security-conscious companies. We assert that a key reason for this is that to scale, these processes require automation. Static analysis, web application firewalls, and dynamic testing are the primary methods many organizations use to secure their applications because these tools can scale effectively. However, there is widespread acknowledgement that relying solely on verification activities for security is neither cost effective nor holistic. In fact, a 2012 study by SD Elements (to be published) indicates that on average 42% of security requirements are NOT covered by automated static and/or dynamic testing tools. To efficiently scale secure SDLC, we emphasize on process automation via criteria-based requirement generation, contextual on-the-job training for developers, and smart checklists. Our data indicates a significant savings for the organization on remediation costs. This talk discusses the process automation in detail and demonstrates how it effectively scales to large development teams.

Original Link: https://www.owasp.org/index.php/2012_BASC_Presentations#Pitfalls_of_Secure_SDLC_and_How_to_Succeed_With_Automation