With the rapid advancement and rise in cybercrimes and an extensive increase in the demand for better performance, information security is the top-notch matter of a concern for businesses. Traditional tools including antivirus software are not sufficing the needs of the modern security breaches and threats, as the hackers and criminals have become way more intelligent than ever before. Attackers are becoming stronger day-by-day and their malicious plans vice versa, this needs to be tackled very carefully and extensive attention is required by the businesses on their software products.
Keeping this in mind the growing consensus in the industry is that effective security must start from scratch, that is, from the source code. Source code analysis is a form of static application security testing that involves scanning the application’s code to identify potential vulnerabilities. With the proper and quality code review services you can be able to increase velocity and reduce technical debts which therefore results in the overall security strength and organization’s productivity.
Before getting deep into the benefits that code reviews have for you, first it better to understand what is secure code review all about.
Security code inspection is a special task that involves manually and/or automatically checking the source code of an application to try to identify security-related weaknesses (defects) in the code. A secure code review does not attempt to identify every problem in the code but wants to provide insight into the types of problems that exist.
Now let’s get started with its benefits.
Safe & Secure Software Development Process
Integrating source code analysis into different phases of the development process (such as bug tracking tools, building management servers, and source repositories) can improve overall software lifecycle security. Security expectations are regarded as checkpoints that activate the development process to stop when a security breach is discovered.
Locating the Exact Area of the Security Rupture
Security code reviews are helpful in identifying specific weaknesses in the code, which simplifies the remediation process. This is particularly useful in large projects where dozens or hundreds of errors can be found per scan. Source code analysis allows you to isolate code problems and incomplete modules.
Quick Remediation Process
Early recognition and alleviation of defects can ultimately save a lot of resources and time. Finding vulnerabilities before deploying software into a production environment can eliminate repair and maintenance costs that would otherwise be incurred.
If the software is used for commercial purposes, the error will result in the interruption of operations that affect the company’s revenue. Therefore, eliminating loopholes helps improve business efficiency.
Support of Cloud
As cloud computing has become famous, new challenges have been created for application developers. Woefully, cloud computing means that programmers have relatively less control over the parameters of managed execution, proprietary compilation, and low-level binary code verification. Without access to low-level binary code, source code analysis provides the most feasible way to remove major errors before the application goes live.
Better Coding Ability
In order to pick the most intense and problematic codes, code reviews rely heavily upon the predefined set of principles. One an organization starts applying for these reviews across a variety of coding projects, sooner or later you get familiar with the common programming flaws like anti-patterns, errors of logic, and memory leakages. This knowledge of yours can be incorporated into coding practice to not face any mistake or error and eventually you can observe a reduction in the delivery time of a project.
Better Planning and Estimates
If a single person writes the existing software and no one else on the team goes through the code, it would be challenging for the remaining teams to make a good estimate.
However, the more people who see part of the code during the code review, the better the estimate.
This is why a code review can also improve the accuracy of these estimates. The better the estimate, the higher the accuracy of the plan when completing a function.
Better Code Readability
Some people think that as long as your code works, it doesn’t matter how you write it, but this is not true. Badly written code has a higher maintenance cost than clean code. In short, by conducting regular code reviews, the entire team will be able to write more readable and maintainable code over time.
Final Words
Software security must be the primary consideration of any organization either small, medium, or large. It is especially critical in today’s technologically advanced world. Security code review is an active process that reduces vulnerabilities and minimizes cybercrime. It has nothing to do with the platform, it can ensure large-scale real-time feedback along with code quality.