Comprehensive Secure Development Policy ensuring embedded security throughout the software development life cycle for all internal and third-party systems.
This Secure Development Policy sets mandatory requirements for embedding security controls at every stage of software development, ensuring all code, internal, outsourced, or third-party, undergoes rigorous security validation and aligns with leading standards such as ISO/IEC 27001:2022, NIST SP 800-53, GDPR, and more.
Enforces security controls throughout every phase of development to proactively reduce risk.
Requires use of OWASP, SANS, and language-specific coding standards, peer reviews, and automated testing.
Defines clear responsibilities for CISO, DevSecOps, developers, QA, and third-party suppliers.
Aligns with ISO/IEC 27001:2022, NIST SP 800-53, GDPR, NIS2, and DORA for strong regulatory coverage.
Click diagram to view full size
Scope and Rules of Engagement
Secure SDLC Governance Requirements
Role-Specific Responsibilities
Code Review and Security Testing Requirements
Exception and Risk Treatment Process
Alignment with Standards and Regulations
This product is aligned with the following compliance frameworks, with detailed clause and control mappings.
Sets the strategic mandate for embedding security across all information systems, of which secure development is a foundational operational control.
Defines the control measures for restricting access to development environments, repositories, build tools, and CI/CD pipelines.
Ensures that code changes, releases, and deployments are subject to proper approval, rollback planning, and post-deployment verification.
Supports the inventorying of development environments, source repositories, and build systems as managed assets subject to classification and protection.
Applies to development pipelines, ensuring that build processes, code promotions, and deployment events are logged, monitored, and analyzed for security anomalies.
Provides the framework for analyzing and responding to security flaws discovered post-deployment or during application security testing.
Effective security governance requires more than just words; it demands clarity, accountability, and a structure that scales with your organization. Generic templates often fail, creating ambiguity with long paragraphs and undefined roles. This policy is engineered to be the operational backbone of your security program. We assign responsibilities to the specific roles found in a modern enterprise, including the CISO, IT Security, and relevant committees, ensuring clear accountability. Every requirement is a uniquely numbered clause (e.g., 5.1.1, 5.1.2). This atomic structure makes the policy easy to implement, audit against specific controls, and safely customize without affecting document integrity, transforming it from a static document into a dynamic, actionable framework.
Requires formal validation, vulnerability scanning, and supply chain security reviews for all outsourced and open-source components.
Mandates segregation, scrubbed datasets, and blocked internet access for non-production systems to prevent data leakage.
Provides a structured process for risk-based exception requests, approval, and periodic review for traceable deviation handling.
This policy was authored by a security leader with 25+ years of experience deploying and auditing ISMS frameworks for global enterprises. It's designed not just to be a document, but a defensible framework that stands up to auditor scrutiny.