Secure by Design: Defining Best Practices, Enabling Developers and Benchmarking Preventative Security Outcomes
It has been two years since the United States government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released its comprehensive Secure by Design guidelines, signaling a watershed moment affecting software manufacturers. For the first time, there was visible, top-level support for raising the standards of software quality and security, with a push towards vendor—as opposed to end-user—accountability for ensuring code shipped free from vulnerabilities.
However, consensus on the real-world implementation of these principles at the enterprise level has proved elusive. Among security professionals, there does not appear to be a consensus on what constitutes Secure by Design, much less a standard pathway being followed to achieve it. Secure Code Warrior interviewed enterprise security professionals focusing on building software, diving deep into their current approaches to Secure by Design principles, including how it is being implemented into their current security posture and Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). It became apparent that there was no widely accepted standard for implementing CISA’s guidance, nor were there active benchmarks to determine successful rollout. This must be corrected rapidly if we, as an industry, are to reap the benefits of heightened security accountability and software quality.
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, including:
- Insights into common security program challenges faced in the enterprise;
- The role of Secure by Design initiatives, including how these are activated and distributed among teams;
- The role of AI in software development, and modern threat modeling;
- Interpretations of best practices, and the role precision data and benchmarking can play in industry-wide alignment with a viable Secure by Design strategy.
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.
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 has been two years since the United States government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released its comprehensive Secure by Design guidelines, signaling a watershed moment affecting software manufacturers. For the first time, there was visible, top-level support for raising the standards of software quality and security, with a push towards vendor—as opposed to end-user—accountability for ensuring code shipped free from vulnerabilities.
However, consensus on the real-world implementation of these principles at the enterprise level has proved elusive. Among security professionals, there does not appear to be a consensus on what constitutes Secure by Design, much less a standard pathway being followed to achieve it. Secure Code Warrior interviewed enterprise security professionals focusing on building software, diving deep into their current approaches to Secure by Design principles, including how it is being implemented into their current security posture and Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). It became apparent that there was no widely accepted standard for implementing CISA’s guidance, nor were there active benchmarks to determine successful rollout. This must be corrected rapidly if we, as an industry, are to reap the benefits of heightened security accountability and software quality.
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, including:
- Insights into common security program challenges faced in the enterprise;
- The role of Secure by Design initiatives, including how these are activated and distributed among teams;
- The role of AI in software development, and modern threat modeling;
- Interpretations of best practices, and the role precision data and benchmarking can play in industry-wide alignment with a viable Secure by Design strategy.
It has been two years since the United States government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released its comprehensive Secure by Design guidelines, signaling a watershed moment affecting software manufacturers. For the first time, there was visible, top-level support for raising the standards of software quality and security, with a push towards vendor—as opposed to end-user—accountability for ensuring code shipped free from vulnerabilities.
However, consensus on the real-world implementation of these principles at the enterprise level has proved elusive. Among security professionals, there does not appear to be a consensus on what constitutes Secure by Design, much less a standard pathway being followed to achieve it. Secure Code Warrior interviewed enterprise security professionals focusing on building software, diving deep into their current approaches to Secure by Design principles, including how it is being implemented into their current security posture and Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). It became apparent that there was no widely accepted standard for implementing CISA’s guidance, nor were there active benchmarks to determine successful rollout. This must be corrected rapidly if we, as an industry, are to reap the benefits of heightened security accountability and software quality.
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, including:
- Insights into common security program challenges faced in the enterprise;
- The role of Secure by Design initiatives, including how these are activated and distributed among teams;
- The role of AI in software development, and modern threat modeling;
- Interpretations of best practices, and the role precision data and benchmarking can play in industry-wide alignment with a viable Secure by Design strategy.
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 has been two years since the United States government’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released its comprehensive Secure by Design guidelines, signaling a watershed moment affecting software manufacturers. For the first time, there was visible, top-level support for raising the standards of software quality and security, with a push towards vendor—as opposed to end-user—accountability for ensuring code shipped free from vulnerabilities.
However, consensus on the real-world implementation of these principles at the enterprise level has proved elusive. Among security professionals, there does not appear to be a consensus on what constitutes Secure by Design, much less a standard pathway being followed to achieve it. Secure Code Warrior interviewed enterprise security professionals focusing on building software, diving deep into their current approaches to Secure by Design principles, including how it is being implemented into their current security posture and Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). It became apparent that there was no widely accepted standard for implementing CISA’s guidance, nor were there active benchmarks to determine successful rollout. This must be corrected rapidly if we, as an industry, are to reap the benefits of heightened security accountability and software quality.
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, including:
- Insights into common security program challenges faced in the enterprise;
- The role of Secure by Design initiatives, including how these are activated and distributed among teams;
- The role of AI in software development, and modern threat modeling;
- Interpretations of best practices, and the role precision data and benchmarking can play in industry-wide alignment with a viable Secure by Design strategy.
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
Revealed: How the Cyber Industry Defines Secure by Design
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.
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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.
Developer-driven coding.
Securely.
Contact us today and make software security an intrinsic part of your development process.
