5 Reasons to Perform Security Code Review of Products

With new security threats and malware emerging at frequent intervals, it has become essential for businesses to provide comprehensive security to their web applications. Most frameworks and IDEs provide a number of features to help programmers build secure applications. But the programmers still need to perform a variety of tests to ensure that the application can combat cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, SQL injection, and similar threats successfully. Often the security of the software is impacted due to presence of insecure pieces of code in the code base.

So many testers nowadays review the source code of the product to identify the insecure pieces of code during production phase. The security code review process aims to identify the insecure piece code. Once the insecure piece of code is identified, programmers can rework on the code and eliminate the potential vulnerability that may affect the security of the software. An enterprise can further reap a number of benefits by reviewing the source code of the software at various phases of development.

5 Reasons Why Testers Must Perform Security Code Review

1) Code is reviewed by an Independent Tester

While writing code, programmers often focus on the software’s features and functionality. So they forget to include the controls required to make the application secure and inaccessible. The security code review process requires presence of two distinct roles. A programmer will be responsible for writing the piece of code, whereas another tester will review the code, identify the defects, and report the bugs to the programmer. The two professionals will coordinate with each other to ensure that the piece of code is secure and flawless.

2) Early Detection of Bugs

Many studies have highlighted that a business can save both time and cost by getting the software tested during various phases of development. The security code review process commences as soon as the programmers writes a piece of code completely. After completing coding, he will get the code reviewed by the tester, and make appropriate changes to the code according to the defects reported by the tester. So the bugs or flaws affecting the software’s security can be identified and fixed without any delay. The secure code generated during the production will help businesses to avoid additional testing time and cost.

3) Tools to Speed up Security Code Review Process  

The testers can further use a variety of tools to review the source code of an application without putting any extra time and effort. They also have option to use specialized tools carry on coding and code review at a time. For instance, they can integrate the code review tools in the IDE, and perform code writing and review simultaneously. The self-code review makes it easier for programmers to generate 100% secure code without putting any extra time and effort. The code can be further reviewed by independent testers to identify and eliminate all flaws in the code.

4) Meet Compliance Requirements

Nowadays the security features of a software application affect its popularity and profitability. So many enterprises want the software to comply with certain security standards. Certain compliances like PCI requires applications to use 100% secure code. When a business performs security code review during the development phase, it can easily meet the compliance requirements and obtain the industry certification. The code review process will further help the business to launch certified software applications within a shorter amount of time.

5) Option to Combine Human Efforts and Technology

To deliver a secure application, each business has to deploy both experienced testers and advanced tools. The security code review process enables enterprises to combine human efforts with the right technology. The testers can always use tools to review larger pieces of code quickly and effectively. The tools will highlight the possible issues that make the code insecure. At the same time, they can assess the issues highlighted by the tools manually to identify the blind-spots left unidentified by the tools. Also, they can assess each issue contextually to find out and report the real issues to the programmer.

A business can further effectuate the security code review process by accelerating the review schedules. Further, it must include secure code review in the test plan to ensure that no piece of code remain untested during the development phase. The security code review methodologies also need to be reviews periodically to protect the software from latest security threats and attacks.