Secure by Design – A Better Approach
Proactive Security: Building Trust and Reducing Risk
Secure by Design is a set of principles that incorporate aspects of security and compliance as core business requirements within an organization’s foundation.
Within the United States, Secure by Design is promoted by CISA, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. However, Secure by Design is an internationally agreed-upon set of principles. Other countries that support the program include Australia, Italy, Germany, the UK, Israel, Singapore, Canada, Poland, Estonia, and over 10 others. With the growing risk of cybersecurity-related incidents, having a solid framework on which to build your solutions, whatever they may be, becomes critical. Engineers and developers need to build their products with security in mind from day one; not as a bolted-on afterthought.
Secure by Design: Three Core Principles
1. Take Ownership of Customer Security Outcomes
Instead of relying solely on users to navigate evolving security threats and mitigate vulnerabilities within technology products, let’s take ownership of user safety from the start. By actively embedding robust security measures into our software solutions from day one, we can create a safer, more secure product for everyone.
2. Embrace Radical Transparency and Accountability
It is not about blame and who did what when; it is about security issues being discovered and remediated in an appropriate timeframe. Vulnerabilities increase your risk so you must be accountable for the integrity of your data. Frequent scanning and remediation cycles will support a more secure posture.
3. Build an Organizational Structure with Leadership in Support of this Model
Security starts at the top. If your organization’s leadership is involved with and responsible for protecting the foundation of how your business operates and builds its products, then you will have the support needed to maintain your security posture.
What You Can Do
First things first, do not think about security after you build your product. Think about it from day one. Security and being secure are not an endpoint or a state you will achieve. You will not wake up one day and have your systems and organizations suddenly become 100% secure. Security is an ongoing cycle, from design, to build, to documentation and maintenance. It is always evolving in response to highly motivated adversaries. However, if you build your infrastructure from the ground up based on the Secure by Design principles—and maintain them—then your organizational security posture will be solid.
Do you need help securing your infrastructure, applications or products? Connect with an expert to see what steps you should take first. We can help!