According to the EMA research, 69.3% of organizations have SDLCs (Software Development Lifecycle) that miss critical security steps. With a growing number of vulnerabilities, organizations are looking into how they can secure their SDLC.
At Security Journey, our mission is to make coding securely a more lasting and engrained habit. Our team of experts work with developers across industries to ensure security is baked into their app development from the beginning to reduce the vulnerability surface.
This article will review the differences between code scanning tools and secure code training, along with the pros and cons of each solution.
Secure coding training programs teach developers the necessary skills to prevent vulnerabilities and mitigate risk. The best security education programs teach development teams security principles to ensure that developers acquire the skills needed to secure applications during the development phase proactively.
The EMA study showed that 60.1% of organizations adopting continuous training realized great improvements in their code security, while only 3% did not see any improvement.
Examples of secure coding training programs include:
Secure Coding Training is the best option when you want to train your developers (and all SDLC employees) on secure coding and if your organization is ready to invest in the long-term results of a working security culture.
Code Scanning Tools, also known as Source Code Analysis Tools, are programs designed to test and analyze code to identify bugs and vulnerabilities before the computer program or application gets pushed live. They are an important part of most software security programs, also providing teams with a way to report their progress on eliminating vulnerabilities.
Examples of code scanning tools include:
Since Code Scanning Tools evaluate code after it’s written, the main goal is to catch mistakes – rather than prevent them. In a recent EMA report, only 10% of organizations reported having prevented a higher percentage of vulnerabilities than organizations not using code scanning tools.
There are three types of Code Scanning Tools based on whether the tool is static or dynamic.
Read More: SAST vs. DAST vs. IAST
Code Scanning Tools are best used when you have security-trained developers and want to add an extra evaluation tool to double-check their work.
Now that we’ve reviewed secure coding training and code scanning tools, which is best for your SDLC?
After reviewing the data, EMA believes the best approach to secure software development is a combination of code reviews, code scanning tools, and a stronger emphasis on continuous, third-party training.
It’s better for developers to write secure code initially than to hope that a code scanning tool will catch the vulnerability before it makes it to production – especially when only 10% of organizations utilizing code scanning tools prevent more vulnerabilities than those without. Code scanning tools should only supplement secure coding efforts and not be the critical wheel in the system, especially when almost 70% of organizations are struggling with even basic security SDLCs.
Across all industry verticals, software development must shift its focus away from heavily relying on code scanning tools and more on people and processes. 100% of organizations using a combination of code reviews, code-scanning tools, and third-party training saw improvement in their code security.
With the Security Journey AppSec Education Program, you can leverage the data from your SAST/DAST and bug bounty tools by integrating them with your application security training platform and prioritizing training for the most critical vulnerabilities in your organization.