How to Develop Applications with Minimal Security Risks

Minimising security risk is a key part of developing your application. Users of software expect that systems will be safe and their data will not be at risk.

To ensure you meet these expectations, you need to avoid your application being hacked or compromised.

You will never be able to guarantee 100% infallibility, but you can reduce security risk through a combination of methods: from securing your code against common vulnerabilities to putting in place various strategies such as regular code review and dependency management. Whilst the code you write can leave your software vulnerable, you also need to take a wider view – for example, risk can be introduced through 3rd party dependencies and your runtime.

This user guide takes you through 7 key pointers for developing applications with a minimal security risk. It will help you take responsibility for the security of your software, to best avoid becoming one of the 20,000 websites every day that get hacked on average.

In this guide:

• Basic Code Exploits
• Scanning Your Application For Known Vulnerabilities
• Creating a Dependency Management Strategy
• Validating Your Configuration
• Developing a Code Review Strategy
• Identifying Vulnerable Information
• Following Clean Code Rules

We have developed this guide with Snyk, an open source security platform that helps software-driven businesses develop fast and stay secure.