The development security operations employed by most organisations are no longer as effective or efficient as they need to be.
Too many of the current solutions used are still resulting in vulnerabilities slipping through the net and being shipped as part of final products. While most can be remedied with post-launch patches and updates, by that point it can often be too late. One data breach is enough to destroy reputations that have taken years to build and land companies in regulatory hot water.
Shift left testing – the popular development philosophy that involves moving safety and security tasks earlier in the development process timeline to catch vulnerabilities – is no longer effective in isolation. Continuing to exclusively rely on it risks leaving vulnerabilities unseen, while those arising later in the development cycle are often missed altogether. In order to mitigate the chances of critical vulnerabilities making it into end solutions, constant monitoring, and analysis are required throughout the entire development process.
However, with modern developers under more pressure than ever to hit project deadlines – often with chronically understaffed teams – the prospect of adding more to their workload is far from ideal. For this reason, a growing number of businesses are turning to expert engineers, to work alongside developers, vetting code and flagging critical vulnerabilities in a timely manner through a process known as code auditing.
The dangers of unnoticed vulnerabilities
Recent history is full of examples of high-profile data breaches resulting from unnoticed vulnerabilities in code. For instance, earlier this year, a security incident involving a company called YX International led to millions of Facebook, Google, WhatsApp, and TikTok users having their account security compromised. Attackers exploited a small vulnerability in YX International’s internal database, leading to the exposure of private 2FA codes, password reset links, and employee credentials.
Even high-profile companies like Meta have encountered challenges with data storage, having recently received a fine for their plaintext storage of passwords. Although this instance stemmed from a logging oversight in their Facebook Lite app rather than deliberate negligence, regulators are keen to crack down on a lax approach to security — once a vulnerability is exposed, cybercriminals will stop at nothing to exploit it.
Code auditing provides a much-needed safety net
For a long time, teams have relied on shift left testing to catch and eliminate these kinds of vulnerabilities. As the existing approach grows less effective, businesses across a wide range of industries are embracing code auditing as a more comprehensive solution to their needs.
Code auditing typically involves working with an experienced community of code reviewers to find and eliminate security weaknesses missed by processes such as automated testing. The code review community is made up of expert developers, trained to find even the smallest bugs in code. For instance, in the past year alone, they conducted over 30,000 code audits, with each revealing an average of 1.2 vulnerabilities. This goes to show how code reviewers are ideally suited to conduct the kind of forensic analysis needed to uncover the vulnerabilities that can cause so much damage once out in the wild.
There are rigorous processes in place when identifying suitable candidates, with key qualifications required such as an understanding of common vulnerabilities, and an in-depth understanding of programming languages, platforms, and security methods. Once reviewers are selected, vulnerabilities such as design flaws and logic errors, hidden back doors, malicious code, cryptographic vulnerabilities, insecure dependencies, and more can be quickly identified and rectified before it’s too late.
It doesn’t end there either. Many organisations tap security researchers after the code review process is completed to also offer their expertise on how to fix and avoid any further weaknesses via security assessments. This helps organisations mount a proactive and pre-emptive defence against a wide range of known threats and attack vectors across their SDLC and post-deployment.
At its heart, code auditing is a developer-first mindset. Focusing on what developers need to get their job done, rather than piling on pressure and deadlines will guarantee more secure outcomes. Alongside this, working with teams of security researchers who have extensive knowledge of systems, stacks and programming languages, means developers have access to vast, yet niche, knowledge banks that can provide key insights and advice whenever it is needed.
Not only does the code audit approach ensure products are safer, but striking at the root of the issue will also save money down the line by weeding out far more vulnerabilities from the get-go. When you consider that the average cost of a data breach in 2024 was $4.88m, it quickly becomes a no-brainer.
While it’s wrong to say shift left is completely dead, it simply isn’t effective enough to stand on its own anymore. As technology advances and hackers abound, code auditing must become a staple in development stages to ensure enhanced security and stand firm against the rising tide of cybercrime.
About the Author
Laurie Mercer is Security Architect at HackerOne. HackerOne is the global leader in human-powered security, harnessing the creativity of the world’s largest community of security researchers with cutting-edge AI to protect your digital assets. The HackerOne Platform combines the expertise of our elite community and the most up-to-date vulnerability database to pinpoint critical security flaws across your attack surface. Our integrated solutions, including bug bounty, pentesting, code security audits, spot checks, and AI red teaming, ensure continuous vulnerability discovery and management throughout the software development lifecycle.
