policy Enterprise

Secure Development Policy

Comprehensive Secure Development Policy ensuring embedded security throughout the software development life cycle for all internal and third-party systems.

Overview

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.

End-to-End Security

Enforces security controls throughout every phase of development to proactively reduce risk.

Mandatory Secure Coding

Requires use of OWASP, SANS, and language-specific coding standards, peer reviews, and automated testing.

Role-Based Oversight

Defines clear responsibilities for CISO, DevSecOps, developers, QA, and third-party suppliers.

Compliance and Audit

Aligns with ISO/IEC 27001:2022, NIST SP 800-53, GDPR, NIS2, and DORA for strong regulatory coverage.

Read Full Overview
The Secure Development Policy defines mandatory security requirements for all software and system development initiatives within the organization. Its chief objective is to ensure that security risks are proactively identified, assessed, and mitigated throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC), whether products are built internally, outsourced to third parties, or integrate open-source components. This policy applies to every environment related to software development, development, testing, staging, pre-production, as well as every stakeholder involved, including developers, product owners, DevOps, QA, architects, project managers, contractors, suppliers, and service providers. A cornerstone of the policy is the comprehensive embedding of security controls at every phase of development. From requirements definition through to secure design, implementation, testing, and deployment, this policy establishes and enforces secure coding standards aligned with authoritative sources such as OWASP, SANS CWE, and SEI CERT, as well as relevant language-specific best practices. Security validation is not optional: all code must undergo peer review and automated security analysis before reaching production, ensuring flaws are remediated early and comprehensively. Use of open-source and third-party code is strictly managed via approval, software composition analysis, license reviews, and vulnerability scans. Roles and responsibilities are clearly articulated for all parties. The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) oversees policy enforcement and approves secure coding standards and exception decisions. Application Security Leads or DevSecOps Managers are responsible for developing guidelines, integrating security testing into CI/CD pipelines, and defining remediation protocols. Developers and software engineers are expected to follow secure coding practices, participate in specialized security awareness training, and engage in peer code reviews. Product owners and project managers are tasked with including security in project requirements and ensuring adequate resources are allocated. IT and infrastructure teams must secure all development and staging environments, enforce least privilege access, and monitor for unauthorized changes, while third-party developers must provide evidence of code quality and adherence to the organization's security protocols. The policy establishes clear governance requirements, such as the use of approved version control systems with enforced access controls, audit trails, and code promotion protections. Security is built into both traditional and agile development workflows, with required activities including secure architecture review, threat modeling, static and dynamic analysis (SAST/DAST), code signing, and careful management of secrets and credentials. Exception management processes are detailed: when constraints prevent full adherence, security exceptions require formal justification, documented risk analysis, compensating controls, and a review/approval cycle involving security leads and the CISO. All such exceptions are regularly reviewed and actioned for remediation. Regular policy reviews and updates are mandated in response to changes in methodologies, serious security incidents, regulatory changes, or emerging industry standards (like OWASP Top 10 or SLSA). Revisions are controlled, versioned, and communicated through official channels, ensuring organization-wide awareness and accountability. This rigorous approach provides the organization with a robust, auditable, and standards-aligned secure development foundation.

Policy Diagram

Diagram mapping the Secure Development Life Cycle: secure design, threat modeling, coding, static and dynamic testing, deployment, and exception handling.

Click diagram to view full size

What's Inside

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

Framework Compliance

🛡️ Supported Standards & Frameworks

This product is aligned with the following compliance frameworks, with detailed clause and control mappings.

Framework Covered Clauses / Controls
ISO/IEC 27001:2022
8.1
ISO/IEC 27002:2022
NIST SP 800-53 Rev.5
EU GDPR
2532
EU NIS2
EU DORA
910
COBIT 2019

Related Policies

Information Security Policy

Sets the strategic mandate for embedding security across all information systems, of which secure development is a foundational operational control.

Access Control Policy

Defines the control measures for restricting access to development environments, repositories, build tools, and CI/CD pipelines.

Change Management Policy

Ensures that code changes, releases, and deployments are subject to proper approval, rollback planning, and post-deployment verification.

Asset Management Policy

Supports the inventorying of development environments, source repositories, and build systems as managed assets subject to classification and protection.

Logging And Monitoring Policy

Applies to development pipelines, ensuring that build processes, code promotions, and deployment events are logged, monitored, and analyzed for security anomalies.

Incident Response Policy

Provides the framework for analyzing and responding to security flaws discovered post-deployment or during application security testing.

About Clarysec Policies - Secure Development Policy

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.

Rigorous Third-Party Code Governance

Requires formal validation, vulnerability scanning, and supply chain security reviews for all outsourced and open-source components.

Controlled Dev/Test Environments

Mandates segregation, scrubbed datasets, and blocked internet access for non-production systems to prevent data leakage.

Exception Management Workflow

Provides a structured process for risk-based exception requests, approval, and periodic review for traceable deviation handling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Built for Leaders, By Leaders

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.

Authored by an expert holding:

MSc Cyber Security, Royal Holloway UoL CISM CISA ISO 27001:2022 Lead Auditor & Implementer CEH

Coverage & Topics

🏢 Target Departments

IT Security Risk Compliance Audit

🏷️ Topic Coverage

Secure Development Lifecycle Secure Coding Security Testing Compliance Management Third Party Risk Management
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Secure Development Policy

Product Details

Type: policy
Category: Enterprise
Standards: 7