Ensuring Software Development Security

At Essentio, we understand that the journey of software development doesn't commence with team building. Traditionally, the security of each project is rooted in the server. This article aims to shed light on the 'what,' 'when,' and 'who' of project security measures. With offices in Graz and Vienna and our in-house developers based in Warsaw, we leverage our resources to ensure robust security in all our projects.

The Landscape of Project Security Measures

When we talk about security measures in project development, we're referring to a vast arena of considerations. The escalating cyber threat landscape, featuring cloud services, software updates, ransomware, software and hardware supply chain attacks, business email compromises, and crypto mining, among others, continues to evolve and demands an aggressive stance on security measures in software development.

Digging Deeper: Types of Project Security Measures

1. Hardware Security and Availability

Our cloud provider, such as AWS, shoulders the responsibility for hardware security, which encompasses securing physical access to hardware and continuously detecting component attacks. They also ensure the delivery and seamless virtualization of hardware, detecting workloads and non-secure configurations in a timely manner, enabling our engineers to perform remediation.

2. Operating System Security

A secure operating system offers confidentiality, availability, and integrity, equipped with safeguards against major threat classes and failures. Cloud providers are charged with the task of OS security updates and default software provisions. At Essentio, we work with providers who ensure the stability and real-time functionality of the software development projects' systems, even when some components fail.

3. Clock Synchronization

Our DevOps team ensures all systems share a standard time using a synchronized time service protocol (NTP). This synchronization aids in real-time tracking of incidents, a key factor in attack protection or timely reaction.

4. DevOps Flow Configuration Security

DevOps plays a pivotal role in protecting container and microservices components of Kubernetes and Docker, leveraging AWS services for continuation.

5. Network Security

Network security, involving port protection, private/public network configuration, and VPN, is of utmost importance. Our DevOps team handles increased network reliability, effective security management, and protection against evolving threats and new attack methods using tools provided by the cloud provider.

6. Communication Channel Security

Security of communication channels is achieved through the use of SSLs for all communications on the public network. While the cloud provider delivers the tools and certificates, our DevOps team handles the necessary configurations.

7. Code-level Security

Responsibility for Auto code review in CI/CD flow is usually shared between the technical lead and DevOps, ensuring continuous integration, code delivery and deployment, and timely bug detection.

8. Keys and Storage Security

DevOps is provided with certificates and tools by the cloud provider, allowing us to use the key manager and store data, secret credentials, and keys securely.

9. Deploy Security

Deploy security involves automated security testing and checks for all human access, usually handled by DevOps.

10. DDoS and Flood Security

Front-end Nginx installation and banning of ICMP and UDP protocols can notably simplify the operation of the service. The protection is typically provided by a hosting provider, carrier, or cloud provider, ensuring it is distributed, autonomous, and automated, with the IТ-infrastructure fully complying with the volumes needed.

11. Application Security

Application security revolves around detecting, fixing, and preventing vulnerabilities that could serve as loopholes for intruders. Measures such as authentication, authorization, protection against physical attack, countering identity matching, and protection against phishing are executed by the development team in collaboration with the provider of the tools used.

12. Credentials Protection

One of the pivotal security measures in our development team's routine is to store passwords insalt and hash format only, a method that encrypts the password before storing it in a database. Given that hash functions are irreversible, it's impossible to retrieve the user's password even if someone gains access to the database. This security measure effectively renders the table lookup method useless.

13. User Session Protection

Our development team uses various methods for session management. In client-server-type systems, improper protection can lead to vulnerable accounts being accessed unauthorizedly. To counter this, we use server-side tokens with valid private network storage. Storing the creation date of the token and tracking changes adds an additional layer of security.

14. User/Administrator Permission System Security

The security of the User/Admin System is achieved by allocating the necessary accesses, rights, and abilities. Electronic access control leverages the computing power to resolve issues.

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"In the face of rising cyber threats, security in software development has become more than a mere consideration—it's an absolute imperative. It's the foundation that not only protects valuable data and systems, but also bolsters trust, encourages innovation, and drives business success. At Essentio, we believe that the most impactful software is the one that's not just efficient and innovative, but also built with the highest standards of security." - Maximilian Bielecki

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Essentio: Your Trusted Partner in Secure Software Development

At Essentio, we take a zero-tolerance approach to security-related bugs. As a company builder with resources in Graz and Vienna, and our own in-house developers in Warsaw, we understand the importance of implementing robust project security measures in software development. We strive to ensure that our projects are not just efficient and innovative, but also secure and trustworthy. Partner with us today and experience the Essentio difference in software development security.

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