The importance of security maturity in development teams

Most organizations are still struggling to emphasize security as a critical element of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) with few being able to conquer the robust DevSecOps approach.  For many, prioritizing features and release deadlines is still taking precedence over security. This comes with repercussions, including the increased risk of an expensive data breach and reduced productivity as teams sift through security tickets and rework. 

Because developers are the first line of defense when it comes to eliminating risk from software vulnerabilities, it is important for organizations to think about increasing the maturity of their development teams. But this raises a number of questions.

How does an organization assess the security maturity of its development teams? How can setting up a security maturity roadmap not seem like an impossible task? How can you keep your developers engaged and motivated to improve their security maturity? 

We have used insights from the Secure Code Warrior State of Developer-Driven Security Survey to understand the answers to these questions and made use of our world-class Customer Service teams to discover what other organizations are doing to find the answers. ‍

How can you increase the security maturity of development teams?

No two organizations are the same when it comes to improving security maturity, with many variables to consider that can impact a company’s success in its efforts to shift left. There are many benefits to those who do - including faster creation and release of code with fewer or no vulnerabilities, which in turn reduces expensive rework, and ultimately reduces risk. 

Those organizations that make progress have a defined plan with management support, and a cohesive approach to continually improve security maturity over time that covers (amongst other things): 

• Defining a security maturity baseline
• Assessing teams’ security maturity
• Identifying key security weaknesses
• Building a positive security culture

Check out our new whitepaper The importance of security maturity in development teams to take an in-depth look at:

• What is security maturity in development teams, and why is it important?
• What are the different stages and characteristics of security maturity for development teams?
• What is needed to build security maturity in development teams?