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Difference between revisions of "Category:OWASP Security Spending Benchmarks"
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== About the Security Spending Benchmarks Project == | == About the Security Spending Benchmarks Project == | ||
| − | + | This OWASP project seeks to produce an industry accepted benchmark for justifying spending in Web application security. We want to quantify how many dollar and human resources should be allocated towards Web application security, including that of within the software development life-cycle. This project is motivated by the fact that: | |
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<ul> | <ul> | ||
| − | <li>There are few, if any, industry standard benchmarks for executive management to consider when deciding what is a reasonable amount of resources to spend on security | + | <li>There are few, if any, industry standard benchmarks for executive management to consider when deciding what is a reasonable amount of resources to spend on Web application security and the application development processes.</li> |
| − | <li>Spending on security helps mitigate risks whose potential costs are difficult to quantify | + | <li>Spending on security helps mitigate risks whose potential costs are often difficult to quantify, thereby making justifying and obtaining security budgets difficult.</li> |
| − | <li>Many business initiatives require organizations to take “reasonable measures” and “adhere to best practices” for developing secure Web application, but there is no industry consensus or data on how this translates into monetary terms.</li> | + | <li>Many business initiatives require organizations to take “reasonable measures” and “adhere to best practices” for developing, delivering, and hosting secure Web application, but there is no industry consensus or data on how this translates into monetary terms.</li> |
<li>Smaller organizations outside of highly regulated industries purchase and deploy Web applications with no realistic ability to evaluate their security.</li> | <li>Smaller organizations outside of highly regulated industries purchase and deploy Web applications with no realistic ability to evaluate their security.</li> | ||
<li>Producing a less secure Web application may be less expensive than producing a more secure version of the same software. Organization that have invested development resources into software security may not get to charge a premium for this investment.</li> | <li>Producing a less secure Web application may be less expensive than producing a more secure version of the same software. Organization that have invested development resources into software security may not get to charge a premium for this investment.</li> | ||
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| − | Prior to releasing the survey we are asking colleagues to help formulate the | + | Prior to releasing the survey we are asking colleagues to help us formulate the most appropriate questions. Your feedback is much appreciated. We want to use the answers to address the following questions: |
<ul> | <ul> | ||
| − | <li> | + | |
| − | <li> | + | <li>What percentage of a development groups headcount is dedicated towards security? |
| − | How much budget is allocated towards software security as a percentage of development costs?</li> | + | <li>How much budget is allocated towards software security as a percentage of development costs?</li> |
<li>Where does the software security budget come from?</li> | <li>Where does the software security budget come from?</li> | ||
| + | <li>How much budget is allocated towards developer security education?</li> | ||
| + | <li>How much budget is allocated towards independent third-party security reviews?</li> | ||
| + | <li>Where does the independent third-party security review budget come from?</li> | ||
| + | <li>How much budget is allocated towards Web application firewalls?</li> | ||
| + | <li>Where does Web application firewall budget come from?</li> | ||
</ul> | </ul> | ||
Revision as of 23:58, 17 December 2008
About the Security Spending Benchmarks Project
This OWASP project seeks to produce an industry accepted benchmark for justifying spending in Web application security. We want to quantify how many dollar and human resources should be allocated towards Web application security, including that of within the software development life-cycle. This project is motivated by the fact that:
- There are few, if any, industry standard benchmarks for executive management to consider when deciding what is a reasonable amount of resources to spend on Web application security and the application development processes.
- Spending on security helps mitigate risks whose potential costs are often difficult to quantify, thereby making justifying and obtaining security budgets difficult.
- Many business initiatives require organizations to take “reasonable measures” and “adhere to best practices” for developing, delivering, and hosting secure Web application, but there is no industry consensus or data on how this translates into monetary terms.
- Smaller organizations outside of highly regulated industries purchase and deploy Web applications with no realistic ability to evaluate their security.
- Producing a less secure Web application may be less expensive than producing a more secure version of the same software. Organization that have invested development resources into software security may not get to charge a premium for this investment.
Prior to releasing the survey we are asking colleagues to help us formulate the most appropriate questions. Your feedback is much appreciated. We want to use the answers to address the following questions:
- What percentage of a development groups headcount is dedicated towards security?
- How much budget is allocated towards software security as a percentage of development costs?
- Where does the software security budget come from?
- How much budget is allocated towards developer security education?
- How much budget is allocated towards independent third-party security reviews?
- Where does the independent third-party security review budget come from?
- How much budget is allocated towards Web application firewalls?
- Where does Web application firewall budget come from?
How do the above answers correlate with:
- Company size
- Industry vertical
- Sensitivity of the underlying data
- Existence of executive level security oversight
- Role of security in the company’s software development cycle
(Proposed) 25 Survey Questions
This survey is meant to be completed out by organization who development, sell, or host Web applications. It is not intended for general software consumers. Respondents do not not need to provide any individually identifiable information and no individual answers will be published. Only aggregate reports will be published. The survey only takes about 10 minutes. Thank you very much for taking the time to complete this survey and help us better understand security spending in software development.
- What is the total approximate annual revenue of your organization in USD?
- What market do you serve?
- What is your role within the organization?
- Which of the following sensitive data types do your Web applications process? (check all that apply)
- Which of the following security personnel does your organization have (check all that apply)
- Approximately how many developers does your organization employ?
- What is the approximate total number of employees in your organization?
- How much of your software development is outsourced or subcontracted?
- How do you review the security of outsourced or subcontracted code? (please check all that apply)
- Do your developers undergo software security training? (please check all that apply)
- Which of the following background checks are conducted when hiring developers? (please check all that apply)
- How important is previous security experience when hiring developers?
- Do you have internal security checkpoints during the software development life-cycle? (please check all that apply)
- If you answered yes to the question on internal security review, where is the organizational responsibility for this review? (please check all that apply)
- Do you perform independent third-party security reviews before deploying a Web application?
- If you answered yes to the question on external security reviews, how often do you engage external security firms? (check all that apply)
- If you answered yes to the question on external security reviews, what is the approximate annual expenditure (USD) on these reviews?
- Does the costs of these security reviews come from: (check all that apply)
- What percentage of your total developer’s time is directly devoted to security activities? (code reviews, meetings, etc)
- How important is software security generally to your customers?
- Does your organization produce software or systems that deal primarily with:
- How important is Web application security to your executive management?
- Is security a part of your marketing or branding strategy for your product?
- Have you suffered a significant public security incident in the last two years?
- How do you think your organization’s security spending in 2009 will change in relation to 2008?
a. Under 1 million
b. 1 million – 5 million
c. 5 million- 25 million
d. 25 million- 100 million
e. Over 100 million
a. Finance
b. Medical
c. Energy
d. Government
e. Education
f. Professional Services
g. Non-profit
h. Retail
i. Manufacturing
j. Hospitality and Tourism
k. Other (please specify)
a. Executive
b. Security professional
c. Project manager
d. Developer
e. Finance
f. Sales
g. Marketing
h. Other (please specify)
a. Names, addresses, and other personally identifiable information
b. Credit card information
c. Health care related information
d. Financial account information
e. Intellectual property
f. Confidential information
g. Other (please specify)
a. A Chief Information Security Officer or other dedicated security executive on the company’s executive board.
b. A senior manager or director dedicated to security
c. Network security engineers
d. Developers dedicated primarily to security
e. Quality assurance testers dedicated primarily to security
f. An Information Security Officer who also has other responsibilities.
g. None
h. Don’t know
a. 1 - 10
b. 10 - 50
c. 50 - 100
d. 100 - 500
e. Over 500
a. 1 - 10
b. 10 - 100
c. 100 - 500
d. 500 - 1000
e. Over 1000
a. None
b. Some
c. About half
d. Significant portion
e. All or almost all
f. Don't know
a. We don’t review the security
b. We contractually require adherence to best-practices and/or particular security measures.
d. We conduct a security review internally
e. We have an independent third-party firm conduct a security review
f. Don't know
a. Yes, via an external training course
b. Yes, via internal resources
c. Yes, via certifications
d. No
e. Don’t know
a. Basic criminal background check
b. Extensive overall background check via third party
c. Contacting references
d. None
e. Don't know
a. Very important
b. Somewhat important
c. Nice to have but not a priority
d. Not a factor in hiring
e. Don't know
a. Yes, at every stage of the development cycle
b. Yes, during the design phase
c. Yes, during the testing phase
d. No
e. Don't know
a. Within the development team
b. Within the QA team
c. Within a security team
d. Within the internal audit team
e. Don’t know
a. Every web application undergoes an external review before deployment
b. Only security critical applications undergo an external review
c. Only when requested by customers
d. We never perform external security reviews
e. Don't know
a. Once at the design phase
b. When making important security choices
c. Ad hoc, as needed
d. Prior to release
a. Under $50,000
b. $50,000 - $100,000
c. $100,000 - $250,000
d. $250,000 - $1,000,000
e. Over 1 million
a. The development budget
b. The Q&A budget
c. A security budget
d. A general budget
e. It varies
f. Don’t know
a. Under 2%
b. 2%-5%
c. 5%-10%
d. 10%-15%
e. Over 15%
f. I don’t know - we don’t measure time in that way
a. Extremely important
b. Very important
c. Important
d. Not very important
e. Don't know - I don't deal with customers.
a. Highly sensitive data
b. Somewhat sensitive data
c. Not very sensitive data
d. Depends on who is deploying it
a. Absolutely critical
b. Very important
c. Somewhat important
d. Nice to have
e. Not very important
a. Yes
b. No
a. Yes
b. No
c. Don't know
a. We will spend over 20% more in 2009 than 2008
b. We will spend between up to 20% more in 2009 and 2008
c. We will spend up to 20% less in 2009 than 2008
d. We will spend over 20% less in 2009 than 2008
e. We don’t know yet how much we will spend in 2009
f. We don’t measure security spending
Project Status
Completing the project description text and finalizing the proposed 25 survey questions.
Project Contributors
The Security Spending Benchmarks Project Leader is Boaz Gelbord (Executive Director of Information Security, Wireless Generation). Boaz can be contacted reached directly at bgelbord AT wgen.net with any questions or feedback.
- Jeremiah Grossman (CTO, WhiteHat Security)
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