Unlike a traditional Waterfall development process, Agile development doesn’t include security checkpoints at clearly delineated phases. In Agile, release cycles are much more rapid and bite-sized development activities take place concurrently.

Vantage Point can help Agile teams mitigate security risk with services that integrate naturally into the Agile process and provide a secure foundation for any new feature release. The Vantage Point mission of ‘Building Security In’ is really about creating an agile security approach.

Integrate Security into Agile Development

Include security activities in the task list for each sprint, so you can protect your business from security threats without slowing down your release cycle.

Vantage Point helps you build security tasks into an Agile workflow

  • Start at the beginning. Fifty percent of security problems aren’t bugs—they’re design flaws. If you think eliminating security bugs from code is a challenge, try fixing a flaw within insecure design! Vantage Point can provide the policies and knowledge to eliminate these flaws at the source.
  • Give your developers a real-time security coach. In Agile, it’s no longer acceptable for developers to hand untested code to QA teams. Our lightweight IDE plugin gives developers real-time security guidance so they can fix bugs at the point of development.
  • Run security tests daily or per build. To run security tests on all applications or features, you need a pool of flexible resources. Our application security testing includes automated tests for rapid results and manual testing for higher risk applications, as well as actionable remediation guidance.
  • Threat model all new features. For each new feature, we’ll review the business logic and map out threat models so you can clearly understand the impact an attack would have on the application—and your business.

Set up foundational security practices

You’ll be better able to maintain the rapid and fluid nature of Agile development if you’re building upon a strong security foundation. While your developers and software engineers focus on individual sprints, Vantage Point can help you connect the dots across projects.

  • Strategic program design. We’ll help you build security standards, policies and metrics into your user stories, so that you have a consistent list of security protections that must be included before each release is accepted. We’ll also help you figure out the right cadence for security testing (e.g. every check-in, every scrum, every sprint, every release).
  • Architecture risk analysis. Rather than view each user story in isolation, we’ll make sure to consider the connections between systems and ensure the integrity of your overall design.
  • Training. By making sure each of your team members is trained on the latest security requirements and techniques, you’ll feel more confident that the work they produce will be secure.

If you’re wondering how to integrate security into your Agile development process, it’s time to talk with Vantage Point.

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