How CISOs can get out of security debt and why it matters
Like technical debt, security debt accumulates quickly, due to unpatched software, rushed security testing and poor visibility. When the bill comes due, it could mean a breach.
Security debt happens when organizations allow cybersecurity weaknesses and vulnerabilities to linger and accumulate, putting them at significant, ongoing risk of compromise. At worst, security debt could set the stage for a devastating data breach. Enterprises that manage and minimize security debt have significantly stronger security postures.
Security debt vs. technical debt: What's the difference?
Technical debt refers to the implied cost of future work resulting from shortcuts taken during software development and testing. These shortcuts often prioritize speed or immediate goals over quality and long-term maintainability.
A subset of technical debt, security debt refers to the accumulation of unaddressed security vulnerabilities and risks that stem from deferred updates, ignored best practices, poor visibility, poor communication and rushed implementations. Security debt can also accrue in the development stage when developers disregard security best practices during coding.
Types of technical debt
Types of technical debt include the following:
Suboptimal code -- e.g., code-level debt.
Complex or inefficient system architectures -- e.g., architectural debt.
Insufficient testing or inadequate documentation -- e.g., process-level debt.
Outdated or low-quality data models -- e.g., data-level debt.
Legacy systems that are difficult to maintain -- e.g., legacy-level debt.
Consequences of technical debt include increased maintenance costs, reduced performance and adaptability, and growing inefficiencies and risks over time.
Types of security debt
The types of cybersecurity debt that can accrue include the following:
Security debt can make an organization more susceptible to data breaches, malware and ransomware attacks. Other risks include regulatory fines due to non-compliance as well as reputational damage and the loss of customer trust.
To confront security debt, organizations will need to take a multipronged approach.
How to eliminate and prevent security debt
Reducing accrued security debt is more costly than investing in cybersecurity upfront in the planning and deployment phases.
That said, it's critical to mitigate existing security debt, limit its future accrual and prevent expensive security incidents. Recommended actions include the following:
Security debt can make an organization more susceptible to data breaches, malware and ransomware attacks.
Assessment of software. Start with a thorough inventory of all software, be it purchased, unlicensed or a demo version. Create an associated list of software components for each of them. Compare this composite list against the MITRE-published CVE portal and NIST's vulnerability database. This will identify the most critical items to address soonest. It won't be comprehensive, but this list will be the first major step toward reducing security debt.
Open source software evaluation. Software composition analysis tools provide developers with an automated and efficient way to detect and monitor the use of open source and third-party components. This enables you to check these components' security and license compliance and reduce the risk of supply chain attacks.
Timely security updates. Use metrics and put checks in place to track software patches, firmware updates and OS upgrades. In a cloud environment, this could include an assessment of the cloud provider using third-party tools, as well as the expansion of data backups to a third party or even a migration to a more secure cloud infrastructure. Additionally, make sure patching responsibilities are clearly assigned and communicated so key updates and fixes don't fall through the cracks.
Scheduled assessments of root causes. After addressing a critical security problem, dig into why it happened. This can reveal fundamental architectural, design or testing flaws.
Incorporate cybersecurity best practices during coding. DevSecOps practices allow developers to take an active part in the cybersecurity culture. This includes secure coding as well as the use of remediation tools and vulnerability detection capabilities in the pipeline.
An organization that embraces these practices will be better positioned to detect and rectify gaps in its cyber defenses and pay down existing security debt and prevent future security debt.
Ashwin Krishnan is the host and producer of StandOutIn90Sec, based in California. where he interviews tech leaders, employees and event speakers in short, high-impact conversations.
