Secure-Software-Design WGU Secure Software Design (D487) Exam Questions and Answers

Security testing reports are the deliverables that typically contain detailed results of the security evaluations performed. These reports include the types of tests conducted, such as static and dynamic analysis, penetration testing, and code reviews, as well as the number and types of vulnerabilities discovered. The purpose of these reports is to document the security posture of the software at the time of testing and to provide a basis for remediation efforts.

References: The information aligns with best practices in secure software development, which emphasize the importance of documenting security requirements and conducting risk analysis during the design phase to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities early in the SDLC12.

The phase being described is the Deployment phase of the SDLC. This phase involves making the software available for use by customers after it has been developed, tested, and approved for release. It includes the installation of the software in the production environment, ensuring that all features are operational as intended, and obtaining formal approval from leadership to proceed with making the product available to end-users. The deployment phase is critical as it transitions the software from a development setting to a real-world operational environment.

References:

SDLC Deployment Phase – A Step by Step Guide1

Understanding the SDLC: Software Development Lifecycle Explained2

The core issue here is cleartext transmission of sensitive data, and option C directly addresses this:

Addressing the Problem: The scenario reveals the vulnerability is the lack of encryption during data transmission (the GET response). Ensuring encryption in transit fixes this specific exploit.

Transport Layer Security: Encryption during transit is typically achieved through protocols like TLS (HTTPS), preventing the interception of sensitive information.

Comprehensive and Detailed In-Depth Explanation:

The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM) is a framework designed to help organizations assess and improve their software security posture. SAMM is structured around five primary business functions: Governance, Design, Implementation, Verification, and Operations.

In this scenario, the focus is on reviewing design artifacts to ensure compliance with organizational security standards. This activity aligns with the Verification business function within SAMM. The Verification function encompasses security practices related to assessing and validating the security of software artifacts throughout the development lifecycle. Key practices under this function include:

Design Review: Evaluating design documents and models to identify potential security issues and ensure that security requirements are adequately addressed.

Code Review: Analyzing source code to detect security vulnerabilities and ensure adherence to secure coding standards.

Security Testing: Conducting various testing methodologies, such as penetration testing and vulnerability scanning, to identify and remediate security weaknesses in the software.

By focusing on the Verification function, the organization aims to proactively identify and address security concerns during the design and development phases, thereby enhancing the overall security posture of their software products.

References:

OWASP SAMM - Verification

The category of secure software best practices being described is Training. This is because the focus is on educating new developers about organizational security policies and coding practices to mitigate potential threats. Training is a proactive approach to ensure that developers are aware of security concerns and are equipped with the knowledge to address them in their coding practices.

References: The importance of training in secure software best practices is supported by industry resources such as the SAFECode’s “Fundamental Practices for Secure Software Development” which emphasizes the need for application security control definition and management1, and the NIST’s Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF) which recommends integrating secure development practices throughout the software development lifecycle2. Additional support for this category can be found in resources detailing effective secure development practices345.

 The category that classifies identified threats with no defenses in place, exposing the application to exploits, is Unmitigated Threats. This term refers to vulnerabilities for which no countermeasures or mitigations have been implemented. These threats are critical because they represent actual weaknesses that attackers can exploit. In the context of secure software design, it’s essential to identify these threats early in the SDLC to ensure that appropriate security controls can be designed and implemented to protect against them.

References:

Taxonomy of Cyber Threats to Application Security and Applicable Defenses1.

OWASP Foundation’s Threat Modeling Process2.

Mitigating Persistent Application Security Threats3.

The privacy impact rating for an application that stores personally identifiable information (PII), monitors users with ongoing transfers of anonymous data, and changes settings without notifying the user would be P1 high privacy risk. Storing PII already poses a significant risk due to the potential for data breaches and misuse. Monitoring users and transferring data, even if anonymous, increases the risk as it involves ongoing data collection. Changing settings without user notification is a serious privacy concern because it can lead to unauthorized data processing or sharing, further elevating the risk level.

References:

Practical Data Security and Privacy for GDPR and CCPA - ISACA1.

Privacy risk assessment and privacy-preserving data monitoring2.

How To Effectively Monitor Your Privacy Program: A New Series3.

The Intelligence domain in the Building Security in Maturity Model (BSIMM) focuses on gathering and using information about software security. This includes understanding the types of attacks that are possible against the software being developed, which is why reviewing attack models falls under this domain. The BSIMM domain of Intelligence involves creating models of potential attacks on software (attack models), analyzing actual attacks that have occurred (attack intelligence), and sharing this information to improve security measures. By reviewing attack models, the software security group is essentially assessing the organization’s ability to anticipate and understand potential security threats, which is a key aspect of the Intelligence domain.

References: The references used to verify this answer include the official BSIMM documentation and related resources that describe the various domains and their activities within the BSIMM framework12345.

The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) uses the following ranges to determine the severity rating of a vulnerability:

0.1 - 3.9: Low severity

4.0 - 6.9: Medium severity

7.0 - 8.9: High severity

9.0 - 10.0: Critical severity

Since the adjusted score for the vulnerability is 5.9, it falls within the High severity range.

References:

CVSS v3.1 Specification Document - FIRST: https://www.first.org/cvss/specification-document

National Vulnerability Database (NVD) - NIST: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln-metrics/cvss

Comprehensive and Detailed In-Depth Explanation:

The scenario outlines the process of decommissioning a legacy application after a new product has successfully taken over its functions. This corresponds to the End of Life phase in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

The End of Life phase involves retiring outdated systems and transitioning users to newer solutions. This phase ensures that obsolete applications are systematically phased out, reducing maintenance costs and potential security vulnerabilities associated with unsupported software.

In this case, running both the legacy and new applications concurrently provided a safety net to ensure the new system's stability. After confirming the new product's reliability, the organization proceeds to disable the legacy system, marking its End of Life.

References:

Systems Development Life Cycle

Comprehensive and Detailed In-Depth Explanation:

Transmitting data in a human-readable format, such as JSON, over an API can expose sensitive information if the communication channel is not secure. To protect the confidentiality and integrity of the data, it's essential to encrypt all requests and responses between clients and servers.

Implementing encryption, typically through protocols like HTTPS (which utilizes TLS/SSL), ensures that data transmitted over the network is not readable by unauthorized parties. This prevents potential attackers from intercepting and understanding the data, thereby safeguarding sensitive information contained within the API communications.

This practice is a fundamental aspect of secure software development and aligns with the Implementation business function of the OWASP SAMM. Within this function, the Secure Build practice emphasizes the importance of configuring the software to operate securely in its intended environment, which includes enforcing encryption for data in transit.

References:

OWASP SAMM: Implementation - Secure Build

Security testing reports are the most likely deliverables to contain detailed records of evaluations, their frequency, and re-evaluations. Here's why:

Purpose of Security Testing Reports: These reports document the results of security testing, including:

Types of tests: Vulnerability scans, penetration tests, code reviews, etc.

Frequency: How often tests were conducted (e.g., per build, per release cycle).

Re-evaluations: If vulnerabilities were discovered, these reports will track whether and how often those were retested after remediation.

Focus on Testing: The question specifically emphasizes evaluations, which aligns with the core content of security testing reports.

The phase being described is the Design phase of the SDLC. During this phase, developers and IT staff determine the architectural and operational details of the product, which includes decisions on how to deliver various components such as secure REST services, mobile apps, and web applications. The Design phase is crucial for setting the foundation for the development work that will follow, ensuring that the product will be secure, scalable, and maintainable.

References: The information aligns with the descriptions of the SDLC phases provided in resources such as GitHub’s explanation of the SDLC1 and other industry-standard software development lifecycle resources234.

The deliverable that would aid a software security team in preparing a detailed schedule mapping security development lifecycle phases to the type of analysis they will execute is Security test plans. These plans are crucial as they outline the testing strategies and specific security tests that will be conducted during the development lifecycle to ensure the software meets the required security standards.

Security test plans are developed after the requirements and design phases and are used throughout the implementation, verification, and release phases. They include detailed instructions for security testing, criteria for success, and the types of security testing to be performed, such as static and dynamic analysis, penetration testing, and code review.

These plans are living documents that should be updated as new threats are identified and as the project evolves. They ensure that all team members understand the security goals, the risks, and the measures that need to be taken to mitigate those risks.

By having a well-defined security test plan, the team can ensure that security is not an afterthought but is integrated into every phase of the software development lifecycle, thus producing more secure software.

References: The importance of security test plans in the software development lifecycle is supported by best practices and guidelines from sources such as Microsoft’s Security Development Lifecycle1 and Snyk’s Secure Software Development Life Cycle principles2.

The step in threat modeling that involves collecting exploitable weaknesses within the product is Identify and document threats. This step is crucial as it directly addresses the identification of potential security issues that could be exploited. It involves a detailed examination of the system to uncover vulnerabilities that could be targeted by threats.

References: The OWASP Foundation’s Threat Modeling Process outlines a structured approach where identifying and documenting threats is a key step1. Additionally, various sources on threat modeling agree that the identification of threats is a fundamental aspect of the process, as it allows for the subsequent analysis and mitigation of these threats2345.

After completing vulnerability scans and penetration analysis, security testers document the results to share with stakeholders, such as the organization’s largest customers. The deliverable being prepared in this context is the Security testing reports. These reports typically include detailed findings from the security assessments, explanations of the vulnerabilities discovered, the potential risks they pose, and recommendations for remediation. The purpose of these reports is to provide transparency about the security posture of the software or system and to guide the organization in addressing the identified security issues12. References: 1, 2

https://blog.halosecurity.com/what-really-matters-when-it-comes-to-pentesting-deliverables/

An intercept proxy, also known as a proxy server, sits between a web client (such as a browser) and an external server to filter, monitor, or manipulate the requests and responses passing through it. This can be used for legitimate purposes, such as security testing and user privacy, but it can also be exploited by attackers to alter web traffic in a way that the developer did not intend, potentially leading to security vulnerabilities.

References:

Understanding of HTTP and HTTPS protocols12.

Definition and role of proxy servers3.

 Session management is a core component of secure coding, which involves maintaining the state of a user’s interaction with a system. Proper session management can help protect against various security vulnerabilities, such as session hijacking and session fixation attacks. It is essential for ensuring that user data is handled securely throughout an application’s workflow.

References: The OWASP Secure Coding Practices guide emphasizes the importance of implementing secure coding standards, which include robust session management1. Additionally, Snyk’s secure coding practices highlight the significance of access control, including authentication and authorization, as fundamental to protecting a system2. These resources align with the concept that effective session management is a best practice in secure coding.

The type of threat described is Tampering. This threat occurs when an attacker intercepts and manipulates data being sent from the client to the server, such as form data being submitted to an API. The attacker may alter the data to change the intended operation, inject malicious content, or compromise the integrity of the system. Tampering attacks are a significant concern in secure software design because they can lead to unauthorized changes and potentially harmful actions within the application.

References:

Understanding the different types of API attacks and their prevention1.

Comprehensive guide on API security and threat mitigation2.

Detailed analysis of Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks and their impact on API security3.