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Expert backs new security certification for coders


By Jeff Feinman
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September 26, 2008 —  (Page 1 of 2)
Hord Tipton has always been big on certification.

When he was the CIO of the U.S. Department of the Interior, he made a requirement to have CISSP (certified information systems security professional) certification on critical security jobs, even though it was met with resistance from security experts who thought the examination was difficult. After retiring from his government post two years ago, Tipton has been as adamant about security certification as he ever was in his venture with the (ISC)2.

The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, otherwise known as (ISC)2, is a not-for-profit organization focused on certifying information security professionals with vendor-neutral education products, services and credentials.

Tipton, (ISC)2’s director, said the main keys to strong software security are good communication between the business and the coders, and good change control management. The coder should be receiving solid business logic so he or she is able to assess the right security modules and objects to place into the application.

Software can be improperly configured when it is deployed, which will result in flaws. Changes must be made by people trained in security, he said.

“Security must be baked in from the very beginning of the development process,” Tipton said. “I think we’re captured by the notion that security costs more if we build it in. (ISC)2 looks at it from the life-cycle approach that the total cost of the application should count the dollars spent on the beginning and on the end piece of it. Maintenance generally runs about 80% of the cost of any application to begin with, and if you leave a major piece out and don’t have anything to patch it, then serious things happen.”

Tipton pointed out an IBM Systems Sciences Institute study that said fixing defects can cost up to 15 times more during the software testing phase, and 100 times more during the maintenance and operations. If security is not implemented from the beginning of a life cycle, vulnerabilities are more likely to be exploited and costs will rise, he said.


Related Search Term(s): security, software development, ISC2

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