How can you identify and address system vulnerabilities in the design phase?

3 Use security standards and frameworks

The third step to identify and address system vulnerabilities is to use security standards and frameworks to guide and evaluate the system design. These collections of best practices, methodologies, or specifications can help you design, implement, and maintain secure systems, as well as comply with regulations, policies, or contracts that require certain levels of security. Examples include the ISO/IEC 27000 series - a set of international standards for information security management systems - the NIST SP 800 series - a set of publications by the National Institute of Standards and Technology that provide recommendations for cybersecurity - the OWASP Top 10 - a list of the most critical web application security risks and their mitigation strategies - and the CIS Controls - a set of 20 prioritized actions for protecting your systems from cyberattacks.

4 Perform threat modeling

The fourth step to identify and address system vulnerabilities is to perform threat modeling. This systematic process helps you identify, analyze, and prioritize the threats and vulnerabilities that could affect your system. It also assists in designing and implementing countermeasures or mitigations to reduce the risk or impact of those threats. Generally, the process involves defining the system scope and objectives, identifying the threat agents and scenarios, recognizing the vulnerabilities and risks, and defining countermeasures and mitigations. To begin, you should determine the system boundaries, components, data flows, and assets that are in scope for the threat modeling. Then, identify the potential adversaries or sources of threats, their capabilities, motivations, and goals, as well as possible ways they could attack the system. Additionally, you should identify weaknesses or gaps in the system design, configuration, or implementation that could be exploited by the threat agents and assess the likelihood and severity of consequences. Lastly, define actions or controls that can prevent, detect, or respond to threats but consider any trade-offs or costs involved.

5 Use security testing tools

The fifth step to identify and address system vulnerabilities is to use security testing tools to verify and validate the system design. These software applications or services can be used to perform various types of security tests, such as static analysis, dynamic analysis, and penetration testing. Examples of common security testing tools are SonarQube, which performs static analysis on various languages and frameworks while providing reports and dashboards on code quality and security; ZAP, which performs dynamic analysis on web applications with features such as spidering, scanning, fuzzing, proxying, and scripting; and Metasploit, a framework for penetration testing with features such as exploit development, payload generation, and shellcode injection.

6 Document and communicate the system design

The sixth step to identify and address system vulnerabilities is to document and communicate the system design. This is essential for ensuring the design meets security requirements, and can help share and review the system design with other developers, testers, or auditors. Documentation and communication can also be used to transfer knowledge and skills among team members, demonstrate and justify design decisions, and implement security measures. Common methods for documenting and communicating the system design include diagrams, models, and reports. Diagrams can be used to illustrate the system architecture, components, relationships, data flows, or processes. Models can be used to specify the system behavior, logic, or protocols. Reports can be used to describe the system context, objectives, requirements, risks, design choices, security standards, test results, or recommendations.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?