Coding security – the backbone of literally everything in this virtual world we call home. From our smartphone applications to our favourite websites (whichever category that may be, no one’s judging), code basically runs the world now and it will probably remain the same for a long time.

Coding is actually quite interesting, with multiple languages across multiple platforms. If you’ve worked with developers as we have at KeenEye, you’d know that coding makes them a very peculiar breed of human – extremely lovable, but peculiar. Here is a mind-blowing fact for you as published by MIT – 67% of developers admit to releasing code that isn’t secure. At face value, this may not seem like a big deal because bugs do come up anyway, right? Wrong! Vulnerability is a whole other topic, and that’s why this blog will teach you how to ensure your code is safe, along with best practices and tips from KeenEye!

So what is a secure code?

One common misconception that I’ve heard people talk about is security levels in different coding languages. That couldn’t be further from the truth. No one language is more secure than the other. Think of it like a car. If a Volvo (known for being the safest cars in the world) is driven by a lunatic, you’re bound to crash. Likewise, if a TATA is driven by an expert driver, you’d be safe. It all depends on who’s in control.

To truly protect your code from vulnerabilities, you should opt for the technique of secure coding. This means considering known hacker threats and security vulnerabilities and adapting your code accordingly before it goes live. Ideally, this should be done at every stage of development and there should be a quality assurance (QA) criteria for this as well.

Here are 5 tried and tested tips and tricks from KeenEye for secure coding!

Familiarizing yourself with potential security risks across each language

Firstly, it’s important to understand which language would work best for your project and then work on identifying potential security risks associated with that language. Then, mitigate the risks during each coding stage to make sure nothing can crack your code.

Never trust anyone, even your end user

Most security breaches come about when you give your end user too much trust. To mitigate this, create your code with the thought that you will certainly encounter illegal users. Trust us, these guys can hack your code and take complete control of your network. For example – SQL injections.

Man, you’ve gotta automate!

Automation is a blessing, take it from us. You should definitely invest in a secure automation code that erases the need to write code yourself. Don’t get too excited – this doesn’t mean you get to sit on your rear and watch as the code creates itself, but if you have a recurring coding task that needs to be written multiple times, automation will run it whenever it needs to be run, reducing human error and making code stronger.

Implementing modular coding

Modular coding is segregating code into various logical units which means if there is an issue, you only need to change one model and not the whole code, making sure everything is individually secure.

Use threat modelling

You should create a source code analysis to identify all the vulnerabilities and potential security concerns that could arise, based on a made-up persona of a cyber attacker. Get into the mindset of someone trying to take control of your code, identify how to do that and then completely shut it down.

In conclusion, code security is a widely talked-about topic in this day and age across the board. A lot of developers really don’t pay enough attention to this aspect of things, but adopting these 5 easy tips and tricks above will definitely keep your code secure and a tier above the rest. Until next time, code securely!

Works Cited:
(1) Best Practices for Source Code Security | Endpoint Protector. https://www.endpointprotector.com/blog/your-ultimate-guide-to-source-code-protection/
(2) Secure Coding Practices | What is secure coding? | Snyk. https://snyk.io/learn/secure-coding-practices/
(3) Secure Software Development Best Practices – Hyperproof. https://hyperproof.io/resource/secure-software-development-best-practices/
(4) Best Practices for Secure Coding / safecomputing.umich.edu. https://safecomputing.umich.edu/protect-the-u/protect-your-unit/secure-coding/best-practices
(5) Secure coding guidelines for .NET | Microsoft Learn. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/security/secure-coding-guidelines