The world is changing rapidly, no matter the company or product things are increasingly digital and software dependent. Developers are shipping code faster than ever before, yet 75% of code is still being checked and flagged by AppSec teams for common and easily preventable vulnerabilities. 

There are enormous risks to not prioritizing secure code and security as a critical part of the software development process. In fact, the global average cost of data breach has increased this past year to $4.35 million (IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2022).  Developers need engaging and innovative training to keep up with new threats and a culture change to shift the security-driven mindset left in partnership with the security team.

Here at Secure Code Warrior, we’re constantly innovating to help equip developers and organizations with the right skills to tackle today’s ever changing security challenges. We do this through highly engaging, flexible, and easy to manage training programs. 

This past quarter we’ve been focused on building new ways to learn with Coding Labs (newly available in Preview), enabled an LMS SCORM integration, and created more accessible and inclusive user experiences-  all while simplifying the admin experience to help save time. 

Let’s dive in to learn more!

Announcing Coding Labs – Next-level learning

In a recent industry survey (The State of Developer-Driven Security Report 2022), 40% of developers stated their training wasn’t hands-on enough. Coding Labs helps developers improve their secure coding skills through hands-on training with real coding and intuitive feedback, all within a familiar and powerful in-browser IDE, making it easier than ever to go from learning to doing.

Instead of being met with unclear and frustrating “right or wrong” guidance, developers can also be confident they’re learning the right way and improve their comprehension with real-time and in-context feedback. Coding Labs supports developers’ goals of preventing security vulnerabilities and improving their organization’s security posture.

As part of the SCW platform, this new experience brings a fresh perspective to developer enablement. Leaders can build a training program that sets developers up for success, with approachable and bite-size learning that meets the developer where they are. Coach people through a new vulnerability with approachable guided training to work your way up to more challenging and hands-on experiences like Coding Labs. Leaders can be confident that developers will find the training more engaging, easier to retain, and ultimately apply to the code base to reduce vulnerabilities and rework. 

Coding Labs is now available in Preview, if you’re a SCW customer, reach out to your account manager to learn more about getting access.

Not an SCW customer but want to stay up to date with Coding Labs availability? Fill out the form here.

Join SCW to learn about our product innovations and see a demo of Coding Labs. Register for the webinar here.

Integrate secure code training with your preferred SCORM LMS 

Coming soon, SCW administrators can more easily manage their secure code training program alongside their other training platforms without manual development effort. This will save time and help administrators focus on more impactful ways to improve their training programs. 

If you’re not familiar, SCORM means Sharable Content Object Reference Model and is an international standard for e-courses. If your course is published in the SCORM format, you can be sure that almost any learning management system (LMS) will recognize it.

With the new SCORM LMS integration, you can:

• Incorporate secure code training directly into your preferred LMS to manage participants and assignments in one place
• Track your organization’s progress and completion

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Ensure your SCW program is built directly into your preferred developers workflow to enhance user experiences. SCORM packages can be downloaded for Courses and Assessments, providing a seamless LMS integration with popular platforms such as SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, Cornerstone, and more.

The LMS SCORM integration will be available to customers in preview in October, reach out to your account manager to learn more. 

Expanding the SCW platform’s breadth and depth 

Secure Code Warrior’s continued expansion into new content helps to keep our modules relevant, timely, and tailored to what you need to know in today’s cyber-security landscape. With industry leading breadth and depth of over 55 languages, it’s easy to build and scale a program to train developers in a large number of languages and frameworks. 

Secure ABAP applications with newly released training content

Building on our release in the spring, we’re excited to launch new ways to train for developers coding in ABAP with 6 new walkthroughs and 14 missions.

Access flexible and diverse education with new challenges and content 

Secure Code Warrior strives to continually release content that meets diverse skill levels while keeping our training modules relevant and challenging. This quarter, SCW has released more content to popular coding languages such as:

• 33 extra RPG challenges, a top customer request
• The ability to create a tournaments in RPG  
• 10 extra Python Django challenges

All new content is now available in the challenge pools to play on the platform.

Simplifying the admin and user experience

Configuring a scalable and engaging secure code training program is now easier than ever with key usability improvements to the platform.

Easily edit a published course 

Keep up with the ever changing needs of your organization and training program with new ways to edit existing programs. Course versioning allows admins to edit their existing courses without having to create a brand new course. This was one of the most requested features by customers.

Updates  include:

• Add new languages to a published course
• Add/Update/Delete modules and activity content in the course 
• Add/Update/Delete end-of-course activities 
• The platform will save a major version of a course to create basic versioning 

Access Courses from the Home Screen

The addition of a "Continue" button to the new homepage displays a list of activity cards to help users quickly resume the modules they have previously started. Users can will also now see a window on the home screen to view any uncompleted modules

This allows users to effectively pick up where they left off if they have to pause a course or assessment, without losing any of their progress.

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Both features are available to accounts that have enabled early access on the platform. Reach out to your account manager for any questions about access.

Inclusive and accessible Design 

Here at Secure Code Warrior, we believe language and design has the power to build bridges and increase understanding, connecting together diverse groups of users under our mission to champion secure coding. Our goal is to create and provide an inclusive and accessible experience, and we are excited to make continued progress on accessible design.

Traditional Chinese now available 

With the addition of Traditional Chinese to the languages on the platform, we are continuing to build a truly global community of developers who can access the tools they need to become security champions. 

You can access languages from the dropdown menu in settings. Traditional Chinese is also available with video subtitles in our resources section.

Join the ProductTalk webinar on October 5, 2022. 

Want to learn more? Join our ProductTalk Webinar on October 5, 2022 to hear from members of our product teams about exciting updates and new features and learn about the changing developer-driven security landscape. 

Register for the webinar here. 

Interested in trying out Secure Code Warrior but don’t have an account yet? Sign up for a free trial account today to get started.

That’s a wrap on this quarter’s new capabilities! Follow Secure Code Warrior on Twitter to get updates about the latest releases and improvements.