Published on December 6th, 2024 | by Bibhuranjan

The Human Element in Supply Chain Security: Training Strategies for Developers

Security threats grow more numerous and more severe every year, and supply chain attacks are no exception. Most organizations have an extensive software supply chain, which is great for building a fully functional application but can create problems if your third-party providers are not vetted before you partner with them.

However, with the right training strategies for your team and centering your organizational culture around security, you can decrease your chances of a security incident. Training encourages employees to follow best practices and teaches them how to appropriately identify and respond to threats. On the application side, training can encourage developers to choose partners that also prioritize security, decreasing the likelihood of vulnerabilities in your supply chain.

Importance of the Human Element in Supply Chain Security

The software supply chain encompasses a variety of third-party applications, APIs, and services, as well as platforms and past partners that have had contact with or stored organizational data. Many organizations use cloud services, and cloud providers typically use a shared responsibility model of security. This means that the cloud provider and the organization are both responsible for their own ends of the security environment.

Taken together, all of this means the software supply chain has a massive attack surface. There are vulnerabilities lurking around every corner, and effectively securing each possible attack vector is both necessary and very challenging. The challenges are exacerbated by the fact that your organization does not have control over third-parties’ security policies and practices.

However, this is not to say that there’s nothing you can do. Fundamentally, many of these vulnerabilities exist because of human choices. To mitigate them, then, is often a matter of adequate security training and creating a workplace culture that emphasizes following best security practices. Additionally, your organization will be better equipped to respond to threats when your teams are well-versed in security protocols.

Developers choose which dependencies to add to an application, and they are responsible for validating them. So, security training can encourage them to only work with third parties that take security seriously. Choosing partners and providers carefully will not completely eliminate your risk of vulnerabilities in the supply chain, but it will reduce it.

Building a Security-Aware Development Culture

To create a culture that focuses on security awareness in development and elsewhere, there are several things you can do. Some of these include:

Integrating security into the SDLC. Applications are universally more secure if developers actively work to limit vulnerabilities during the software development lifecycle. The alternative is to develop first and secure later, which is basically functional, but it tends to create vulnerabilities that have to be patched later. It can be risky if the vulnerabilities aren’t caught until after deployment.
Fostering a “shift-left” mentality. Shifting left means to move something toward the beginning of the SDLC. Encourage developers to prioritize quality over speed. A better-made product will be more secure upon deployment than a quickly-made product. Also, if both security and quality are prioritized early in development, there will ultimately be fewer vulnerabilities to address later.
Hands-on workshops and simulations. Training for all team members, especially developers, is important for building a culture of security.
- On the developer end, training is important to make sure they recognize security risks in the supply chain. Third party products and services should be carefully evaluated before developers integrate them into applications. To do that, the developers need to know what security features and policies to look for.
- Your team, both developers and other employees, should learn about security best practices, and your organization’s policies and protocols should be part of the curriculum. Many vulnerabilities come from human error, so it’s important for employees, whether they are developers or otherwise, to know how to respond appropriately to threats like phishing or social engineering attacks.
Code review exercises. While it’s important to review all code before deploying an application, developers should focus especially on third-party dependencies. These are critical points where an attacker could exploit any vulnerabilities if they are exposed. Before releasing the application for public use, review and testing are essential. Before this, though, training and review exercises are desirable for teaching developers how to detect and address those weaknesses.

By developing a security-focused culture within your organization, you can improve your application security early in the SDLC, which decreases the number of vulnerabilities in the code upon release. Additionally, prioritizing security will encourage developers to use open-source code, APIs, and service providers that take security as seriously as your organization does.

Continuous Learning and Adaptation in Supply Chain Security

Training developers is not a one-and-done process. Rather, your organization should be staying updated on emerging threats. Training should be ongoing to ensure that developers know what risks to look out for when interacting with third parties. Supply chain threats come at your applications from all sides, so developers need to know the most current information about novel and high-risk threats.

It’s also important to keep communication open between your development and security teams. Security professionals must be able to transmit information about new developments in both threats and threat mitigation. Additionally, it’s important for both teams to implement lessons learned from recent security incidents.

Given the size and scope of the supply chain as well as the many threats against your environment, it’s important that all of your teams are continually learning. To ensure that your organization doesn’t suffer crippling attacks, your applications and any third-party products or surfaces that interface with them must be as secure as possible.

With training and collaboration, your security and development teams can reduce your risk of attack. Training for the rest of your employees will also go a long way towards ensuring that human error in your supply chain is limited. Ultimately, you can’t guarantee a perfectly secured supply chain, but with consistent training and a workplace security culture, you can mitigate your risk of attack.

Cover Image: Freepik

Tags: developers, security, supply chain, supply chain security

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.