Revealed: How the Cyber Industry Defines Secure by Design
It’s becoming increasingly clear that companies must embed Secure by Design principles into their product development processes–not just for compliance, but as a critical business requirement. The guidelines are in place for companies to identify and mitigate exploitable flaws in their products before introducing them to the market. Products built in accordance with these principles by organizations that treat these guidelines as a foundational pillar, rather than just an add-on, tend to remain ahead in this increasingly competitive market.
But two years since the United States government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released their Secure by Design guidelines, actual, real-world implementation is still an industry-wide puzzle we struggle to solve. We all know that these principles matter, but how can we effectively implement them at scale?
In our latest white paper, our Co-Founders, Pieter Danhieux and Dr. Matias Madou, Ph.D., sat down with over twenty enterprise security leaders, including CISOs, AppSec leaders and security professionals, to figure out the key pieces of this puzzle and uncover the reality behind the Secure by Design movement. It’s a shared ambition across the security teams, but no shared playbook.
Discover some of the key findings:
- Most security practitioners and business leaders are on board with the idea and value of Secure by Design initiatives; however, it remains, in a way, open to interpretation, and there is no standard industry-wide approach for implementing it.
- Threat modeling isn’t just something to tick off the compliance checklist - it’s a critical, consistent practice that helps security-savvy developers and their AppSec counterparts stay ahead of risks before they become exploits.
- The double-edged sword that is AI - AI is both a breakthrough and a potent security risk that significantly expands the attack surface. Its explosive growth introduces rapidly evolving risks that unskilled developers and under-resourced AppSec teams often struggle to mitigate.
The problem isn’t a lack of understanding of the importance of applying Secure by Design principles– if anything, the need for secure software has become a foundational need and a baseline expectation. What’s missing is a coordinated, scalable strategy to embed these principles across the software development lifecycle.
We also seem to lack clear benchmarks or measurable outcomes for determining successful rollouts. Without these, teams are left guessing on whether their efforts are truly making an impact. For now, we seem to have a united battlefront, but no shared strategy.
Secure by Design is essential and inevitable, and not just for high-compliance sectors. Developers must also be empowered, not burdened. When equipped with the right skills, tools and support, they inherently become not just builders – but defenders, embedding security where it matters most: at the source.
Download now and discover how your team can leverage powerful developer risk management strategies and precision measurement to drive a successful, unified Secure by Design initiative within the enterprise.
In our latest white paper, our Co-Founders, Pieter Danhieux and Dr. Matias Madou, Ph.D., sat down with over twenty enterprise security leaders, including CISOs, AppSec leaders and security professionals, to figure out the key pieces of this puzzle and uncover the reality behind the Secure by Design movement. It’s a shared ambition across the security teams, but no shared playbook.
Secure Code Warrior makes secure coding a positive and engaging experience for developers as they increase their skills. We guide each coder along their own preferred learning pathway, so that security-skilled developers become the everyday superheroes of our connected world.
Secure Code Warrior is here for your organization to help you secure code across the entire software development lifecycle and create a culture in which cybersecurity is top of mind. Whether you’re an AppSec Manager, Developer, CISO, or anyone involved in security, we can help your organization reduce risks associated with insecure code.
Book a demo
Secure Code Warrior makes secure coding a positive and engaging experience for developers as they increase their skills. We guide each coder along their own preferred learning pathway, so that security-skilled developers become the everyday superheroes of our connected world.
This article was written by Secure Code Warrior's team of industry experts, committed to empowering developers with the knowledge and skills to build secure software from the start. Drawing on deep expertise in secure coding practices, industry trends, and real-world insights.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that companies must embed Secure by Design principles into their product development processes–not just for compliance, but as a critical business requirement. The guidelines are in place for companies to identify and mitigate exploitable flaws in their products before introducing them to the market. Products built in accordance with these principles by organizations that treat these guidelines as a foundational pillar, rather than just an add-on, tend to remain ahead in this increasingly competitive market.
But two years since the United States government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released their Secure by Design guidelines, actual, real-world implementation is still an industry-wide puzzle we struggle to solve. We all know that these principles matter, but how can we effectively implement them at scale?
In our latest white paper, our Co-Founders, Pieter Danhieux and Dr. Matias Madou, Ph.D., sat down with over twenty enterprise security leaders, including CISOs, AppSec leaders and security professionals, to figure out the key pieces of this puzzle and uncover the reality behind the Secure by Design movement. It’s a shared ambition across the security teams, but no shared playbook.
Discover some of the key findings:
- Most security practitioners and business leaders are on board with the idea and value of Secure by Design initiatives; however, it remains, in a way, open to interpretation, and there is no standard industry-wide approach for implementing it.
- Threat modeling isn’t just something to tick off the compliance checklist - it’s a critical, consistent practice that helps security-savvy developers and their AppSec counterparts stay ahead of risks before they become exploits.
- The double-edged sword that is AI - AI is both a breakthrough and a potent security risk that significantly expands the attack surface. Its explosive growth introduces rapidly evolving risks that unskilled developers and under-resourced AppSec teams often struggle to mitigate.
The problem isn’t a lack of understanding of the importance of applying Secure by Design principles– if anything, the need for secure software has become a foundational need and a baseline expectation. What’s missing is a coordinated, scalable strategy to embed these principles across the software development lifecycle.
We also seem to lack clear benchmarks or measurable outcomes for determining successful rollouts. Without these, teams are left guessing on whether their efforts are truly making an impact. For now, we seem to have a united battlefront, but no shared strategy.
Secure by Design is essential and inevitable, and not just for high-compliance sectors. Developers must also be empowered, not burdened. When equipped with the right skills, tools and support, they inherently become not just builders – but defenders, embedding security where it matters most: at the source.
Download now and discover how your team can leverage powerful developer risk management strategies and precision measurement to drive a successful, unified Secure by Design initiative within the enterprise.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that companies must embed Secure by Design principles into their product development processes–not just for compliance, but as a critical business requirement. The guidelines are in place for companies to identify and mitigate exploitable flaws in their products before introducing them to the market. Products built in accordance with these principles by organizations that treat these guidelines as a foundational pillar, rather than just an add-on, tend to remain ahead in this increasingly competitive market.
But two years since the United States government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released their Secure by Design guidelines, actual, real-world implementation is still an industry-wide puzzle we struggle to solve. We all know that these principles matter, but how can we effectively implement them at scale?
In our latest white paper, our Co-Founders, Pieter Danhieux and Dr. Matias Madou, Ph.D., sat down with over twenty enterprise security leaders, including CISOs, AppSec leaders and security professionals, to figure out the key pieces of this puzzle and uncover the reality behind the Secure by Design movement. It’s a shared ambition across the security teams, but no shared playbook.
Discover some of the key findings:
- Most security practitioners and business leaders are on board with the idea and value of Secure by Design initiatives; however, it remains, in a way, open to interpretation, and there is no standard industry-wide approach for implementing it.
- Threat modeling isn’t just something to tick off the compliance checklist - it’s a critical, consistent practice that helps security-savvy developers and their AppSec counterparts stay ahead of risks before they become exploits.
- The double-edged sword that is AI - AI is both a breakthrough and a potent security risk that significantly expands the attack surface. Its explosive growth introduces rapidly evolving risks that unskilled developers and under-resourced AppSec teams often struggle to mitigate.
The problem isn’t a lack of understanding of the importance of applying Secure by Design principles– if anything, the need for secure software has become a foundational need and a baseline expectation. What’s missing is a coordinated, scalable strategy to embed these principles across the software development lifecycle.
We also seem to lack clear benchmarks or measurable outcomes for determining successful rollouts. Without these, teams are left guessing on whether their efforts are truly making an impact. For now, we seem to have a united battlefront, but no shared strategy.
Secure by Design is essential and inevitable, and not just for high-compliance sectors. Developers must also be empowered, not burdened. When equipped with the right skills, tools and support, they inherently become not just builders – but defenders, embedding security where it matters most: at the source.
Download now and discover how your team can leverage powerful developer risk management strategies and precision measurement to drive a successful, unified Secure by Design initiative within the enterprise.
Click on the link below and download the PDF of this resource.
Secure Code Warrior is here for your organization to help you secure code across the entire software development lifecycle and create a culture in which cybersecurity is top of mind. Whether you’re an AppSec Manager, Developer, CISO, or anyone involved in security, we can help your organization reduce risks associated with insecure code.
View reportBook a demo
Secure Code Warrior makes secure coding a positive and engaging experience for developers as they increase their skills. We guide each coder along their own preferred learning pathway, so that security-skilled developers become the everyday superheroes of our connected world.
This article was written by Secure Code Warrior's team of industry experts, committed to empowering developers with the knowledge and skills to build secure software from the start. Drawing on deep expertise in secure coding practices, industry trends, and real-world insights.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that companies must embed Secure by Design principles into their product development processes–not just for compliance, but as a critical business requirement. The guidelines are in place for companies to identify and mitigate exploitable flaws in their products before introducing them to the market. Products built in accordance with these principles by organizations that treat these guidelines as a foundational pillar, rather than just an add-on, tend to remain ahead in this increasingly competitive market.
But two years since the United States government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released their Secure by Design guidelines, actual, real-world implementation is still an industry-wide puzzle we struggle to solve. We all know that these principles matter, but how can we effectively implement them at scale?
In our latest white paper, our Co-Founders, Pieter Danhieux and Dr. Matias Madou, Ph.D., sat down with over twenty enterprise security leaders, including CISOs, AppSec leaders and security professionals, to figure out the key pieces of this puzzle and uncover the reality behind the Secure by Design movement. It’s a shared ambition across the security teams, but no shared playbook.
Discover some of the key findings:
- Most security practitioners and business leaders are on board with the idea and value of Secure by Design initiatives; however, it remains, in a way, open to interpretation, and there is no standard industry-wide approach for implementing it.
- Threat modeling isn’t just something to tick off the compliance checklist - it’s a critical, consistent practice that helps security-savvy developers and their AppSec counterparts stay ahead of risks before they become exploits.
- The double-edged sword that is AI - AI is both a breakthrough and a potent security risk that significantly expands the attack surface. Its explosive growth introduces rapidly evolving risks that unskilled developers and under-resourced AppSec teams often struggle to mitigate.
The problem isn’t a lack of understanding of the importance of applying Secure by Design principles– if anything, the need for secure software has become a foundational need and a baseline expectation. What’s missing is a coordinated, scalable strategy to embed these principles across the software development lifecycle.
We also seem to lack clear benchmarks or measurable outcomes for determining successful rollouts. Without these, teams are left guessing on whether their efforts are truly making an impact. For now, we seem to have a united battlefront, but no shared strategy.
Secure by Design is essential and inevitable, and not just for high-compliance sectors. Developers must also be empowered, not burdened. When equipped with the right skills, tools and support, they inherently become not just builders – but defenders, embedding security where it matters most: at the source.
Download now and discover how your team can leverage powerful developer risk management strategies and precision measurement to drive a successful, unified Secure by Design initiative within the enterprise.
Table of contents
Secure Code Warrior makes secure coding a positive and engaging experience for developers as they increase their skills. We guide each coder along their own preferred learning pathway, so that security-skilled developers become the everyday superheroes of our connected world.
Secure Code Warrior is here for your organization to help you secure code across the entire software development lifecycle and create a culture in which cybersecurity is top of mind. Whether you’re an AppSec Manager, Developer, CISO, or anyone involved in security, we can help your organization reduce risks associated with insecure code.
Book a demoDownloadResources to get you started
Secure by Design: Defining Best Practices, Enabling Developers and Benchmarking Preventative Security Outcomes
In this research paper, Secure Code Warrior co-founders, Pieter Danhieux and Dr. Matias Madou, Ph.D., along with expert contributors, Chris Inglis, Former US National Cyber Director (now Strategic Advisor to Paladin Capital Group), and Devin Lynch, Senior Director, Paladin Global Institute, will reveal key findings from over twenty in-depth interviews with enterprise security leaders including CISOs, a VP of Application Security, and software security professionals.
Benchmarking Security Skills: Streamlining Secure-by-Design in the Enterprise
Finding meaningful data on the success of Secure-by-Design initiatives is notoriously difficult. CISOs are often challenged when attempting to prove the return on investment (ROI) and business value of security program activities at both the people and company levels. Not to mention, it’s particularly difficult for enterprises to gain insights into how their organizations are benchmarked against current industry standards. The President’s National Cybersecurity Strategy challenged stakeholders to “embrace security and resilience by design.” The key to making Secure-by-Design initiatives work is not only giving developers the skills to ensure secure code, but also assuring the regulators that those skills are in place. In this presentation, we share a myriad of qualitative and quantitative data, derived from multiple primary sources, including internal data points collected from over 250,000 developers, data-driven customer insights, and public studies. Leveraging this aggregation of data points, we aim to communicate a vision of the current state of Secure-by-Design initiatives across multiple verticals. The report details why this space is currently underutilized, the significant impact a successful upskilling program can have on cybersecurity risk mitigation, and the potential to eliminate categories of vulnerabilities from a codebase.
Secure code training topics & content
Our industry-leading content is always evolving to fit the ever changing software development landscape with your role in mind. Topics covering everything from AI to XQuery Injection, offered for a variety of roles from Architects and Engineers to Product Managers and QA. Get a sneak peak of what our content catalog has to offer by topic and role.
Resources to get you started
Is Vibe Coding Going to Turn Your Codebase Into a Frat Party?
Vibe coding is like a college frat party, and AI is the centerpiece of all the festivities, the keg. It’s a lot of fun to let loose, get creative, and see where your imagination can take you, but after a few keg stands, drinking (or, using AI) in moderation is undoubtedly the safer long-term solution.
The Decade of the Defenders: Secure Code Warrior Turns Ten
Secure Code Warrior's founding team has stayed together, steering the ship through every lesson, triumph, and setback for an entire decade. We’re scaling up and ready to face our next chapter, SCW 2.0, as the leaders in developer risk management.
Developer-driven coding.
Securely.
Contact us today and make software security an intrinsic part of your development process.
