Secure Software Development Practices Flashcards

Which SDL activity is specifically designed to identify security vulnerabilities by having experts manually examine code without executing it?

Answer: Static code analysis

Static code analysis examines source code without executing it to find vulnerabilities like buffer overflows, injection flaws, and insecure API usage.

In SDL, what is the primary purpose of an 'abuse case' during requirements gathering?

Answer: To describe how an attacker might misuse the system

Abuse cases describe malicious or unintended uses of a system, helping teams design defenses against specific attack patterns during early requirements phases.

Which cryptographic practice is mandated by SDL to ensure sensitive data remains protected if a single algorithm is broken?

Answer: Implementing cryptographic agility

Cryptographic agility allows systems to swap out algorithms without major redesign, ensuring resilience when cryptographic weaknesses are discovered.

During SDL's Verification phase, what does 'attack surface review' primarily assess?

Answer: All user-accessible entry points that attackers could exploit

Attack surface review inventories all exposed interfaces, APIs, data inputs, and protocols to ensure unnecessary entry points are eliminated before release.

What SDL principle requires that components operate with only the permissions necessary to perform their intended function?

Answer: Least privilege

Least privilege limits the access rights of processes and users to the minimum needed, reducing the blast radius if a component is compromised.

In SDL threat modeling, what does STRIDE stand for?

Answer: Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information disclosure, Denial of service, Elevation of privilege

STRIDE is Microsoft's threat classification model used in SDL to systematically identify six categories of security threats during design.

Which SDL practice involves deliberately injecting malformed or random data into application inputs to discover crashes and vulnerabilities?

Answer: Fuzz testing

Fuzz testing (fuzzing) automatically generates unexpected inputs to trigger unhandled errors, crashes, or security vulnerabilities in software.