The Application Security Program Quick Start Guide

Preface

This guide is intended to be a short, straightforward introductory guide to standing-up or improving an Application Security Program. The intended goal of the AppSec program is to implement measures throughout the code’s life-cycle to prevent gaps in the application security policy or the underlying system through flaws in the design, development, deployment, upgrade, or maintenance of the application.

The application security program should effectively manage the security of its application systems, protecting information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction in order to provide integrity, confidentiality and availability.

A fundamental component of this improved application security management is the ability to demonstrate acceptable levels of risk based on defined KPIs, including but limited to:

1. The number of vulnerabilities present in an application
2. The time to fix vulnerabilities
3. The remediation rate of vulnerabilities
4. The time vulnerabilities remain open

The application security program deliverables include a holistic view of the state of security for each application, identifying the risks associated with the application and the countermeasures implemented to mitigate those risks, explaining how security is implemented, planning for system downtimes and emergencies, and providing a formal plan to improve the security in one or more of these areas.

Audience

The intended audience of this document is anyone from security engineers, developers, product managers, senior managers or a senior executive. This guide should be considered the start of a comprehensive approach, it is intended to give the basic questions (and examples of answers) that should be asked by those who are in accountable for the application security program in your organization, along with those responsible for managing the risk of the entire organization.

Day 1

Key Activities:

• Management
• Security
• IT Operations
• Engineering Groups

Day 2

Key Activities:

• Asset Discovery
• Asset Risk Prioritization
• Communication Plan

Day 3

Key Activities:

• Vulnerability Assessments
• Vulnerability Delivery

Day 4

Key Activities:

• Measured Metrics

Day 5

Key activities:

• Compensating Controls
• Mitigating Controls
• Remediation Prioritization

Conclusion

Setting up an effective application security program does require commitment from all elements of the business, and a clear understanding of what resources need to be protected and what level of risk is acceptable. However, given that information, setting up an application security program need not be confusing, difficult, or complex. The keys to success involve planning, making key financial decisions, ensuring all roles and responsibilities are clearly assigned and that all stakeholders within the organization know what to expect.

Licensing

The OWASP Application Security Program Quick Start Guide is free to use. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. You are free to:

• Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
• Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for non-commercial use

The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Credits

Project lead and authors

• Gabriel Gumbs
• Jeremiah Grossman]
• Robert Hansen
• Jerry Hoff
• Matt Johansen

Further Information

Project Mailing List

Application Security Program Quick Start Guide

The OWASP Application Security Program Quick Start Guide is also available as

• Word Document
• Downloadable PDF

For full information about the Application Security Program Quick Start Guide, including mailing list details, the forward plan, how to contribute, the project status, and alternative media, see the project page:

• The Application Security Program Quick Start Guide Project Page