A simple bug that can introduce security holes within software can cause as much as £92 million in losses.
An insecure software can cause data breaches and can affect any computer that has the ability to connect to the internet. Therefore, software security is absolutely non-negotiable.
Ahead, we will explore why outsourcing software security is the right choice when considering outsourcing software development.
You will discover why and how outsourcing partners are better equipped to deal with implementing software security. Additionally, we will quickly cover a case study about the detrimental effects of when a software bug is exploited.
1. Dealing With Emerging Threats
Outsourcing partners are normally more aware of emerging threats and new types of cyberattacks. Therefore, they have a proactive approach to dealing with such situations thanks to:
- Advanced Threat Intelligence – which is continuously monitoring cybersecurity threats and trends on a global level.
- Rapid Response Teams – to immediately take care of software security breaches before they cause significant damages.
2. Comprehensive Security Testing
This type of security testing involves two procedures:
- Penetration Testing:
It involves simulating real-world cyberattacks on software to identify exploitable vulnerabilities by malicious attackers.
- Vulnerability Scanning:
This involves using automated tools to scan software for vulnerabilities from a database of known cyberattacks. Reports are generated afterward highlighting risks and issues.
3. Complying With Regulations
There are numerous regulations that vary from town to town, region to region, and from industry to industry. So, it’s almost impossible for a single company to comply with all such regulations whether they are launching on a local or a global scale.
Your outsourcing partner can help you adhere to industry-specific and/or regional regulations.
For example, for healthcare industries, they can assist you in complying with HIPAA (Health and Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) to protect patient data via encryption, access restrictions, and security assessments.
4. Staying Cost-Effective
Outsourcing partners are experts in their fields and have teams with expertise in various areas of security. For your internal team, it might mean a larger workforce, who might not be utilized fully besides software security purposes.
You can hire outsourced software security purposes on a project basis, so you don’t have to spend extra once the project is over. Additionally, there are no overhead costs of training and onboarding new hires, which you must perform for a hire for an internal team.
Case Study – The Heartbleed Bug
The Heartbleed Bug was exposed in the OpenSSL cryptographic library in 2014, which allowed attackers to steal sensitive data such as passwords and credit card numbers.
This bug was found in a code developed by a company in China and could make any computer in the world with an internet connection vulnerable. What’s even more surprising is that this vulnerability existed for more than 2 whole years before being patched.
As a result, millions of computers around the world were affected. According to some estimates, more than 70% of websites were affected by this bug, leading to the theft of millions of passwords and sensitive data.
Conclusion
The reason the Heartbleed bug existed for such a long time was a lack of security updates. Consequently, websites and computers running on old patches were exposed to cybersecurity attacks.
Therefore, it is essential to keep your software patched with the latest update releases. These updates are released by software security experts who must remain vigilant against emerging threats and then have a proactive approach to fixing such threats.
This means you need dedicated teams whose only job is software security, so there’s never any risk of exposing sensitive data of your software. Hence, outsourcing software security becomes essential if you don’t own an in-house team of enthusiastic experts.
The article was written in cooperation with the experts of SoftKraft – Software Development Company
