By Abhiram Shindikar, Cloudanix — April 17, 2025

From Chaos to Control: Understand the 3 Pillars of Secure Coding Standards

Businesses today are scaling fast and want to deliver their services/products as fast as they can. The perpetual fact is that businesses while prioritizing their SDLCs are also failing to prioritize “Security” over “Speed”. Cloud and GenAI tools provide flexibility and productivity but they also come with increased risk of cyberattacks, threats, vulnerabilities, internal misconfigurations, as well as third-party misconfigurations.

We have witnessed that organizations will and should adopt the new tech to stay relevant but should practice the same when it comes to security! Prioritizing security just means security and development should go hand in hand. Secure coding standards allow businesses to integrate security and improve the security posture of their applications without impacting their SDLCs.

Today, we will understand the basic yet crucial three pillars of implementing secure coding standards. Before discussing the three pillars, let us first understand what secure coding standards are and their importance.

What are Secure Coding Standards?

Secure coding standards are a set of guidelines and best practices designed to help developers write code that is inherently resistant to security vulnerabilities. They act as a roadmap for developers, outlining specific coding techniques and approaches that minimize developers' risk of introducing weaknesses that can be exploited by attackers.

However, following secure coding standards does not guarantee the complete security of the software, but it is considered a crucial step in building secure and reliable applications. CERT coding standards, OWASP Top 10, and PCIDSS are some of the well-known examples of secure coding standards.

Why Secure Coding Standards are important?

Building secure software should be more of a collaborative effort than depending solely on security teams. In the broader scheme of things, we feel both developers and security engineers play a vital role in building secure software.

As said earlier, “Security helps you in safeguarding your applications from potential threats, vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and risks (Third-Party Risks included)”. Secure coding standards are a cornerstone of building secure applications and offer organizations several benefits, such as;

Reduced Security Risks: By working together, both developers and security engineers can significantly reduce the risk of security breaches, data loss, and other security incidents.
Faster Time to Market: By preventing vulnerabilities before they get exploited, secure coding standards help speed up the development process and improve the time to market for new features and applications.
Enhanced Brand Reputation: As we always say, secure applications and environments build trust between your existing customers and your target customers. By prioritizing secure coding standards, you as an organization can demonstrate your commitment to data security and build a strong brand reputation.

The Three Pillars of Secure Coding Standards

Now that we have understood the basics of secure coding standards, let us dive deep into understanding the three pillars of secure coding standards.

As mentioned above, “Secure coding standards are the foundation of building secure software”. They establish a set of best practices and guidelines that developers can follow to write code with security security-first approach from the very beginning of the development process. These standards are built upon three main pillars: Process, People, and Technology. Let us understand them in detail one by one.

Process: Embedding Security Throughout the Development Lifecycle

“Process” is the first pillar of the three, which focuses on integrating secure coding practices seamlessly into the development workflow. The key aspects include and are not limited to;

Defined Security Requirements: Security requirements are clearly defined early in the development process. This involves identifying potential threats and weaknesses that are relevant to the application being built.
Secure Coding Training and Education: Security professionals train developers with secure coding principles and best practices inherently aligned with chosen coding standards. This training helps them equip the knowledge and skills required to write secure code.
Code Review and Static Analysis: During the code review process, experienced developers examine code for security vulnerabilities, logic errors, compliance with coding standards, and more. Static analysis tools like ours can automate and speed up things by identifying common coding weaknesses.
Secure Coding Tools and Libraries: Secure coding practices are streamlined by encouraging the use of secure coding tools and well-vetted libraries. These tools can automate tasks like input validation and encryption, and reduce the risks of human error.
Incident Response and Remediation: Post-deployment of an application, a process for identifying and handling security incidents and vulnerabilities is important. The processes include and are not limited to patching vulnerabilities, learning from incidents, and updating secure coding practices to prevent similar issues in the future.

People: Building a Culture of Security Awareness

The second pillar is the “People” which focuses on the “culture” of an organization. It means fostering a security-conscious development culture where everyone prioritizes secure coding in parallel to software development. The key aspects of these are as follows;

Security Champions: Promoting security champions within development teams who can advocate for secure coding practices and provide guidance to their peers. This is a similar concept where we applaud our team members when they do a good deed for your team’s benefit.
Open Communication: Encourage open communication about security concerns throughout the development process. Developers should feel comfortable enough to raise a security concern or issue without fearing blame.
Shared Responsibility: “Security should not be the responsibility of security teams only”. Partially correct! Security engineers and professionals should be the leaders who educate developers and develop the right attitude toward incorporating security throughout the development process.
Performance Measurement: Integrating security metrics into performance evaluations can incentivize developers to prioritize secure coding practices. However, it's important to focus on positive reinforcement and continuous improvement rather than penalizing.

Technology: Utilizing Tools and Automation to Enhance Security

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools: SAST tools like Cloudanix help automate the detection of common code vulnerabilities that are present in the source code.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools: SAST tools like Cloudanix help automate the detection of common code vulnerabilities that are present in the source code.
Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) tools: These tools simulate real-world attacks to identify vulnerabilities that might get missed by SAST tools.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) plugins: Many IDEs offer plugins that provide real-time feedback on secure coding practices while developers are writing code.
Secure Coding Libraries and Frameworks: Utilizing well-established secure coding libraries and frameworks can provide pre-built, secure functionality, which reduces the risk of developers introducing vulnerabilities by writing code from scratch.
Configuration Management Tools: Configuration management tools provide consistent, secure coding practices across development environments and enforce the use of secure coding libraries and configurations.

Conclusion

Secure coding standards are essential for building resilient applications in today's fast-paced development environment. By focusing on the three pillars—Process, People, and Technology—organizations can effectively integrate security into their development lifecycle. This approach minimizes vulnerabilities, accelerates development, and strengthens brand reputation in an increasingly threat-filled digital landscape.