How to Prevent Cybersecurity Threats with Secure Code
November 22, 2022

How to Prevent Cybersecurity Threats with Secure Code

Security & Compliance
Static Analysis

Cybersecurity threats are everywhere. Each year, cyberattack attempts are growing in number and becoming more sophisticated. This is particularly troubling as organizations were already bombarded by cybersecurity threats.

Read along or jump ahead to the section that interests you the most about what are cybersecurity threats:

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What Are Cybersecurity Threats?

Cybersecurity threats are malicious attacks that threaten to damage applications and business. Cybersecurity threats include data breaches, viruses, and other attacks.

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How Often Do Cybersecurity Threats Happen?

Cybersecurity threats happen every 39 seconds

Cybersecurity threats are a major concern for every software development industry. So, it is essential that you take the appropriate steps to ensure that your code is secure. This includes:

  • Understanding what are the most common cybersecurity threats.
  • Adopting secure coding best practices.
  • Enforcing secure coding standards.
  • Using SAST tools — such as Klocwork.
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Protect Against the Top Cybersecurity Threats

Find out what the top 10 cybersecurity threats are for embedded systems. And learn how to protect against them.

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3 Best Practices to Prevent Cybersecurity Threats

Secure software development best practices are essential for every industry. Following best practices protect your code from cybersecurity threats. Here are the top three.

Software Design Requirements For Cybersecurity Threats

Establish software design requirements for cybersecurity threats. This helps your team address and eliminate cybersecurity threats.

Some software development requirements that you may want to include in your process:

  • Ensure that the requirements are consistent in format and style. Group them together in a logical order. This ensures that your developers understand the expectations and goals of the project.
  • Confirm that each requirement is verifiable through testing, inspection, analysis, or demonstration. 
  • Document the progress of each requirement. When was the requirement tested? What coding errors were identified? And what steps were taken to address those vulnerabilities?
  • Perform manual and peer code reviews regularly. This helps you identify any coding errors, inconsistencies, or vulnerabilities.
  • Use secure multicore designs to better prevent unexpected interactions between threads and processes.

An easy way to implement and enforce this best practice is through the use of a tool like Helix ALM. Helix ALM can manage requirements, tests, and issues with end-to-end traceability. Plus, Helix ALM easily integrates with Klocwork

Secure Coding Standards For Cybersecurity Threats

Develop software based on secure coding standards, such as CERT, CWE, or DISA STIG. This helps you prevent, detect, and eliminate cybersecurity threats. Using these standards helps you create secure systems from the ground up.

By using a secure coding standard, you are able to ensure that:

Early Testing For Cybersecurity Threats

Test your code as early and as often as possible. It's the only way to find cybersecurity threats early in development.

You should keep these best practices in mind:

  • SAST tools — like Klocwork – add automation and help you find threats at a relatively low cost.
  • Conduct both manual and automated regular code reviews.
  • Perform fuzz tests to detect potential software vulnerabilities. Make revisions to appropriately address them.
  • Conduct a penetration test to evaluate how the software would handle a cyberattack. Based upon the results, fix any vulnerabilities.
  • Track and manage defects. Ensure the code is clean and safeguarded from vulnerabilities. You can do this with a tool like Helix ALM.
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How SAST Tools Prevent Cybersecurity Threats

SAST tools — such as Klocwork— can help your software development team. Here are the three biggest ways Klocwork prevents cybersecurity threats.

1. Automate Vulnerability Detection

Examine your code continually throughout the development process with Klocwork. What’s more, SAST tools provide in-depth analysis. This helps you better identify security vulnerabilities in your source code.

2. Test All Code 

Generally, SAST tools test all of your code. This includes error handling routines or rarely executed parts. SAST provides a nice balance to more typical functional-based dynamic testing techniques.

3. Integrate Your DevSecOps Process

Ease of integration into your existing SDCL/DevOps/DevSecOps process. Ensuring that your process is only enhanced and not negatively impacted.

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Why Klocwork Is the Best Tool to Prevent Cybersecurity Threats

Klocwork is the most accurate and trusted static code analysis for C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, and Kotlin. Klocwork offers Differential Analysis, connected desktop, and support for CI/CD pipelines. So, Klocwork is the ideal SAST tool. Using Klocwork helps your development teams prevent cybersecurity threats early on.

Klocwork:

  • Enforces industry and coding standards, including CWE, CERT, DISA STIG, and OWASP.
  • Provides detailed security standard compliance reports.

See how Klocwork will help you prevent cybersecurity threats, sign up for a free trial.

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