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It's not websites or apps going down that's the issue here. Security breaches can very much have real impact on people. For security issues at least, it doesn't

It's not websites or apps going down that's the issue here. Security breaches can very much have real impact on people. For security issues at least, it doesn't really matter how silly or nonconsequential the use case of your software is. What matters is the data you hold, and how you take care of it. Your software could literally be a background service gathering user data, and it could still be devastating for a user if that data gets leaked, even if they didn't know about (and were otherwise unimpacted by) your software's existence (or lack thereof).

onion2k 5y ago
There are lots of software security certifications though, for individuals and businesses. I've work with an ISO27001 company a few times - it's the CSO's job to assure things are done securely rather than the individual devs. The same is true for most aspects of the software lifecycle - PMs, security, QA, etc do have certifications available. Devs are just the people who do the hands on work, not the ones who made sure it's done well.
- dataflow 5y ago
  In that model, who ensures the code is written without buffer overflows, undefined behavior, XSS/CSRF/etc. vulnerabilities, SQL injection vulnerabilities, etc.? You're suggesting code review by the security team is sufficient to ensure developers don't need to think about/understand potential vulnerabilities?
  - onion2k 5y ago
    The devs are responsible for the code, but the CSO is accountable for it. So it's the CSOs job to make sure the devs do their work well because it's the CSOs neck on the line if it isn't. That should take the form of the CSO making sure there's a budget for training the devs, security certification for senior devs who'll writing important aspects of the app, code review by the CSO and security certified devs, hiring in third party auditors, and so on. Hiring a dev who's "Secure Developer Certified" might be an option too, but there would still need to be all the above checks in place to make sure they're writing decent code, so looking for the certification at the point of hiring is a bit redundant.

onion2k 5y ago

There are lots of software security certifications though, for individuals and businesses. I've work with an ISO27001 company a few times - it's the CSO's job to assure things are done securely rather than the individual devs. The same is true for most aspects of the software lifecycle - PMs, security, QA, etc do have certifications available. Devs are just the people who do the hands on work, not the ones who made sure it's done well.

dataflow 5y ago
In that model, who ensures the code is written without buffer overflows, undefined behavior, XSS/CSRF/etc. vulnerabilities, SQL injection vulnerabilities, etc.? You're suggesting code review by the security team is sufficient to ensure developers don't need to think about/understand potential vulnerabilities?
- onion2k 5y ago
  The devs are responsible for the code, but the CSO is accountable for it. So it's the CSOs job to make sure the devs do their work well because it's the CSOs neck on the line if it isn't. That should take the form of the CSO making sure there's a budget for training the devs, security certification for senior devs who'll writing important aspects of the app, code review by the CSO and security certified devs, hiring in third party auditors, and so on. Hiring a dev who's "Secure Developer Certified" might be an option too, but there would still need to be all the above checks in place to make sure they're writing decent code, so looking for the certification at the point of hiring is a bit redundant.