Secure Coding Training: Building with Security in Mind

Secure coding training is primarily aimed at developers. Its goal is to teach them how to write code that is inherently secure, reducing the likelihood of vulnerabilities being introduced during the development process. This type of training focuses on teaching best practices in secure software design and coding, ensuring that developers are aware of the common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Key topics covered in secure coding training typically include:

• Input Validation: Ensuring that all user inputs are validated and sanitized to prevent common attacks like SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS).
• Authentication and Authorization: Implementing proper access controls to ensure that users can only access the data and functionality they are authorized to use.
• Cryptography: Understanding how to properly use cryptographic functions to protect sensitive data, both at rest and in transit.
• Error Handling and Logging: Ensuring that errors are handled gracefully without exposing sensitive information and that logging is done securely.
• Security Features of Frameworks and Libraries: Leveraging built-in security features provided by the development frameworks and libraries.

The primary audience for secure coding training is developers who are actively writing code. The focus is on prevention—teaching developers to think about security as they design and implement features. By learning secure coding practices, developers can minimize the introduction of vulnerabilities and ensure that the code they write is resilient to attacks.

Security Code Review Training: Identifying Weaknesses in Existing Code

In contrast, security code review training is aimed at those who are responsible for assessing the security of existing code, such as security engineers, application security engineers, code reviewers, and sometimes even developers with a focus on auditing. This type of training teaches participants how to find security flaws in codebases, often by analyzing patterns, understanding the context in which code operates, and identifying deviations from best practices.

Key topics covered in security code review training typically include:

• Manual Code Review Techniques: Learning how to systematically analyze code for security vulnerabilities, such as insecure data handling, logic flaws, and improper use of cryptographic functions.
• Pattern Recognition: Understanding common patterns of insecure code and being able to recognize them in a large codebase.
• Code Path Analysis: Tracing the flow of data and control through the code to identify vulnerabilities that may not be apparent at first glance.
• CVE Analysis: Studying real-world examples of security vulnerabilities (CVEs) to understand how they manifest in code and how they can be detected.
• Tool-Assisted Code Review: Using tools to automate parts of the code review process while understanding their limitations and how to manually review code when tools fall short.

The focus in security code review training is on detection—finding vulnerabilities that have already been introduced into the codebase. This training requires a deep understanding of how software works, including knowledge of specific programming languages, frameworks, and potential attack vectors. Unlike secure coding training, which is more about applying best practices during development, security code review training is about critically analyzing existing code to uncover potential security issues.

Audience and Outcomes

The differences in focus between secure coding training and security code review training lead to different outcomes:

• Secure Coding Training prepares developers to write secure code from the outset, embedding security into the software development lifecycle. The outcome is code that is more secure by design, with fewer vulnerabilities making it into production.
• Security Code Review Training prepares security professionals to identify and mitigate security flaws in code that has already been written. The outcome is a stronger defense against vulnerabilities that could have been overlooked during the development process.

Both types of training are essential for a comprehensive application security program. Secure coding training lays the foundation for secure software, while security code review training acts as a critical checkpoint to catch any issues that may have slipped through. Together, they form a robust defense-in-depth strategy, ensuring that applications are both designed and implemented securely, and that any remaining flaws are identified and addressed before they can be exploited.