Consistently mapping business processes with software support is becoming increasingly important in companies. The advantages are obvious – efficiency and savings are key – but there are also challenges: the more software is in use, the more potential vulnerabilities arise.

In order to stop cyber criminals and comply with data protection regulations, these must of course be monitored and mitigated: The pressure to act, to identify security risks at an early stage and minimize them effectively, is increasing. 

As a software development company, we are specifically committed to cybersecurity in Switzerland , Germany and with our customers in general and will show you in this article how you can effectively strengthen software security in your company.

What is software security?

Software security refers to the protection of software applications and digital solutions against attacks. With practices such as secure programming, encryption, authentication and regular updates, developers ensure that the confidentiality, integrity, data availability and functionality of applications are guaranteed during software development, in the test phase and during operation, even in the event of aggressive attacks. 

Software security vs. cybersecurity – what’s the difference?

Software security refers to the protection of individual programs against security vulnerabilities and attacks by viruses, malware or similar. Cybersecurity, on the other hand, as “IT security” is intended to protect entire networks and IT systems from threats such as Trojans or ransomware infiltration. Software security is therefore an (important!) sub-area of cybersecurity.

Really important! Why should software security definitely be on the agenda?

The more your company’s business processes are based on software applications, the more important it is to protect these programs effectively. Especially because attackers are using more and more technical possibilities and launching increasingly sophisticated attacks. The most important reasons why you should pay close attention to the security of software in your company:

• Protection of sensitive data: If customer, employee or business data is leaked, there is a risk of immense loss of trust from customers, partners and investors, as well as legal consequences.
• Compliance with legal data protection: With secure software processes, companies comply with data protection regulations such as the Swiss Data Protection Act (DSG) or the EU’s GDPR, which provide for high fines in the event of violations.
• Ensuring business continuity: Thanks to software security, your applications work reliably and stably and remain available even in the event of an attack. This minimizes business interruptions and protects critical business processes. 
• Avoid financial losses: Inadequate software security can result in high costs due to system failures, legal disputes, data recovery or even ransom payments in the event of ransomware attacks.
• Protection against loss of reputation: With a robust security strategy, your company signals reliability and professionalism. Security incidents, on the other hand, cause lasting damage to the trust of customers and partners.
• Protection against espionage and sabotage: If you focus more on software security, you protect confidential information and know-how from data theft by competitors or even states.

What common problems threaten software security?

When hackers gain access to software applications, it is through vulnerabilities such as security errors or inadequately protected areas in the software code. Not thinking about software security from the outset can lead to numerous problems (this list is not exhaustive):

• Phishing: In this scam, attackers try to trick your employees into revealing sensitive data such as software login credentials by sending deceptively real emails.
• DDoS attacks: This involves cybercriminals flooding your servers with mass requests to crash your software or limit the accessibility of applications.
• Attack on the security of the software supply chain: Attackers use third-party software integrated into the company system, which is classified as trustworthy as a fixed element in the supply chain, as a gateway for malware.
• Cloud service attacks: Cloud-based services are used in many companies for location-independent working. Some of these have security vulnerabilities that make it easy for hackers.

What measures and best practices are there for software security?

There are various measures to ensure software security at all stages of the development and operating cycle. It is essential that all those responsible – from developers to management – are aware of the importance of software security. Various security tools can then be used for implementation.

Secure programming

Whether in the development of standard software or in individual software development: with secure programming practices, developers can avoid security gaps and other errors that cyber criminals know how to exploit right from the start. 

Security audits for software

In a software security audit, IT experts check your software applications for security vulnerabilities using manual and automated tests. To ensure effective damage prevention, you will then be shown suitable measures for remediation. 

For example, we use manual and automated tests with which our QA experts identify potential vulnerabilities and attempt to exploit them. The results and recommendations for action are comprehensively documented so that security gaps can be closed directly. If required, we can also embed the security audit in a comprehensive security assessment of your IT systems. Please contact us for further information.

Use of security tools

By using security tools, security gaps can be identified and rectified at an early stage. Companies can use various tools for this purpose: 

• Static Application Security Testing examines the original source code of the software.
• Dynamic application security testing focuses on the application code during execution.
• Software composition analysis looks for violations of the company’s software governance guidelines.
• Mobile Application Security Testing focuses on vulnerabilities in mobile applications.

Regular updates and patches

The security of software can also be increased with continuous updates and patches. Regular updates allow you to eliminate vulnerabilities before cyber criminals can infiltrate malicious code. This is even more important for standard software than for customized software: their security vulnerabilities often become public knowledge and therefore easy targets for attackers.

Regular pentests

Work with a pentest provider: By regularly simulating cyberattacks, you will discover any vulnerabilities in your software security before attackers can take action.

Further basic best practices for more software security in your company

To ensure that your software security has a really broad basis, software security tests should not be a one-off activity – it is important that you take a structured and strategic approach. We therefore recommend the following additional measures:

1. Anchor security awareness specifically at application level and conduct regular role-based training – tailored to admins or end users. Address realistic attack vectors such as phishing or social engineering and raise your employees’ awareness of potential security risks when using software applications.
2. Implement strict least-privilege access management and assign access rights to your employees according to the least-privilege principle, even with context-dependent restrictions such as time, device type or location. The fewer rights and functions an employee uses, the better the damage can be contained in the event of a hacked user.
3. Encrypt software data consistently. Both stored data and transmitted data should always be encrypted using strong methods. Particularly critical information such as passwords, customer data or financial information should also be encrypted at field level. This ensures that they remain unreadable even in the event of a data leak. A hacker can only access it if they also have the encryption key.
4. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) at all critical points. Secure not only user accounts, but also admin and cloud access with MFA. Modern methods such as hardware tokens or biometric procedures offer additional security compared to simple one-time codes via app or SMS. A security protocol like this makes it twice as difficult for cyber criminals.

And what about AI when it comes to software security?

Many people argue that AI makes hackers even more efficient. However, we argue that AI in software development:also offers programmers some significant advantages 

• Detect security risks faster and more specifically through automated code analyses and intelligent tests
• Identify vulnerabilities at an early stage and generate secure code suggestions
• Improve code quality and raise security awareness in the development team – with enormous time savings

More resilience with software security: protect yourself proactively against attacks!

Software security is a business-critical factor for modern companies and starts with the selection of your tools or your partner when you have software developed. It is important that no security vulnerabilities are tolerated during the development of the code and that clean security reports are reliably created.

It is then up to you to minimize the risk to the security of your software: Are you prepared to take care of important measures such as security audits for software or implement best practices in your company? With the threat of reputational damage, business interruption or huge financial losses in the event of a successful attack, this question is quickly answered.

Would you like to find out more about how we at Riwers can help you with software security?