Vulnerability Perceptions and Practices in Software Development Teams

In today’s software development landscape, ensuring robust security practices is crucial due to the high risk of security incidents resulting from software vulnerabilities. Researchers and industry practitioners have recommended a greater organizational focus on security, regular security testing, and other vulnerability mitigation practices. Many organizations now have a robust secure software development life cycle. We seek to extend prior research by examining the practices and perceptions of teams that are in organizations with standard vulnerability management practices. We seek to identify common perceptions, practices, and challenges of teams where security is already considered an important component of software development, as well as where and how teams vary in their practices. Our results will provide evidence of where teams are still struggling with vulnerability prevention and mitigation to provide recommendations to further reduce security risks.