Cybersecurity has evolved into a board-level priority. Security has moved beyond being a function of IT to become part of the fabric of the entire organization, including its culture.
Cultivating a strong security culture empowers teams to make security-conscious decisions, prioritize actions based on organizational risk, and embed secure practices throughout business processes. Nowhere is this more critical than in software development.
Software is the foundation of every business process, and an increasingly common target for attackers. If you design, build, deploy, or maintain software, you play a critical role in safeguarding the enterprise. A robust SDLC security culture directly supports:
Security maturity reduces the risk of breaches, data loss, and compliance fines—and lowers the cost of remediation. Every step toward maturity delivers tangible benefits. OWASP offers a framework based on 15 key security practices to help organizations assess their current state and chart a path forward to go from meeting basic compliance requirements to establishing a sustainable security culture.
The OWASP Security Culture project outlines a clear roadmap for building secure development practices with a strategy for integrating security into the SDLC. Here’s how to start:
1. Define your maturity goals
Set goals aligned with your regulatory, risk, and business requirements. Use the OWASP Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM) to benchmark your current capabilities and define clear next steps across the SDLC.
2. Secure executive buy-in
When security is a C-level concern, culture change follows. Make sure development, product, and IT leaders are aligned to ensure security becomes a shared priority and properly resourced. Our original research report, The Critical Role of Software Security Training offers helpful insights for garnering C-level support.
3. Foster collaboration between dev and security
Effective security depends on close coordination. Developers want to build securely; security teams need insight into dev priorities. Frameworks like OWASP Risk Rating Methodology and NIST 800-30 help bridge the gap and align risk-based decisions.
4. Appoint Security Champions
Security Champions act as liaisons between development and security teams, helping to translate priorities, streamline workflows, scale best practices and mentor team members. Effective skills assessments and hands-on labs can help you identify the top security evangelists at your organization.
5. Develop targeted security skills
Invest in training tailored to your tech stack, languages, and team roles. To build practical expertise, prioritize hands-on, role-specific learning, particularly around industry standards like the OWASP Top 10 for web, mobile, and AI apps.
6. Integrate threat modeling
Early threat modeling enables teams to identify and mitigate risks before code is written. Leverage OWASP guidance to build this into your development lifecycle. Make sure your training provider offers content that covers different approaches to threat modeling for a variety of frameworks.
7. Test early, test often
Embed security testing throughout the SDLC—from code commit to deployment. Early detection has been shown to minimize rework and accelerate time to delivery. Your training curriculum should include content geared toward security testing that aligns to OWASP best practices.
8. Measure and communicate progress
Track key metrics from threat modeling, code reviews, testing, and champion programs. To build true security maturity, leaning needs to be ongoing and progressive, not one-and-done. Make sure you capture meaningful performance metrics with data-driven reporting that demonstrates value.
Developing a security-minded culture is one of the most effective ways to reduce risk and build operational resilience. Whether you're just getting started or ready to scale, we can help you: