The global average cost of a single data breach is in excess of £3.5 million. For government agencies, breaches can be significantly costlier, and, with cybercriminals constantly finding new ways to exploit system vulnerabilities and launch attacks, it has never been more important to design apps and systems with security as a leading priority.
To ensure that their products exhibit the highest standards of security, many businesses and organisations – including UK government agencies – follow the “Secure by Design” (SbD) approach to development. Secure by Design principles aim to minimise the number of exploitable flaws or weaknesses within products before they hit the market.
For any organisation that handles sensitive data, needs to abide by strict compliance regulations, or creates highly secure products, Secure by Design is an essential framework to follow. This guide explores how Secure by Design cyber security works, looking at its core principles, benefits, and methods of implementation, with contextual examples from the Cabinet Office.
What is Secure by Design?
Secure by Design is a security-focused approach to software and system development enacted from the beginning of the development process and throughout its full duration. In other words, it is about building products that are secure from the outset, rather than discovering vulnerabilities and securing them later.
Secure by Design is a proactive philosophy. It eliminates weaknesses and mitigates threats before they emerge rather than reacting and responding to them after the fact. Beyond that, it also aims to shape the entire working culture and systemic processes of organisations, integrating security into the fabric of operations.
Understandably, this approach is widely used by organisations and entities that rely most on security – government, defence, and large enterprise settings. It helps them craft the most resilient digital systems and encourages everyone in those environments, from entry-level employees to board members, to embrace Secure by Design principles.
The Cabinet Office Secure by Design Approach
The UK government is one of many executive authorities worldwide that follow the Secure by Design approach. As more public services are digitalised and multiple agencies share data and collaborate on expanding digital infrastructure, the value of SbD in government is increasingly apparent.
In recent years, the Cabinet Office launched and published its mandatory cross-government Secure by Design approach, outlining the framework and principles it follows. Consequently, any agencies involved in government work, along with partners and suppliers, must adhere to Secure by Design principles.
Because of this, when carrying out governmental work in any capacity, it makes sense to choose solutions that are themselves secure by design ready. Kahootz’s document collaboration tool, for example, was built under government security standards and adheres to all UK government cloud security principles. This makes it the ideal choice for secure and compliant collaboration.
Secure by Design Principles for Cyber Security
The Cabinet Office Secure by Design approach encompasses 10 clear principles and focuses on the following core ideas. Among them are:
- Defence in Depth: Secure by Design development involves more than just one or two layers of security. It demands the implementation of multiple secure tools and systems for comprehensive protection, so that even if one layer fails, others remain to provide protection.
- Separation of Duties: Delegation is a crucial element of SbD. Roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined and distributed accordingly across teams and systems. This reduces unauthorised access, abuse, and fraud cases, as no single person or entity holds complete control.
- Data Protection: Naturally, a large part of SbD is concerned with protecting sensitive data at all times, both at rest and in transit. Strict access controls and data loss prevention solutions are invaluable for projects like defence supply chain collaboration.
- Secure Configuration: The baseline settings of any digital product or system must be secure, with additional security-minded configuration options available. In short, no matter the setup, software and systems must always uphold high standards of protection.
- Threat Modelling: Given that SbD is a proactive, not reactive approach, it is vital to pre-empt potential threats. Modelling tools and techniques help teams visualise potential worst-case scenarios and strategically refine their products to withstand them.
Benefits of Adopting Secure by Design
Whether you are working on innovative government initiatives, digitalisation of services, or new application development, Secure by Design principles lead the way towards safer, stronger outcomes. In other words, by making security a focus of software development from the outset, digital products are invariably more resilient at the moment of launch.
This has numerous consequential benefits for both the development team and the end user. The user will enjoy a safer experience, with reduced risks of problematic vulnerabilities. The developers, meanwhile, will not have to dedicate post-launch time and resources to security patching and vulnerability fixes.
They should also enjoy a stronger reputation, as a result of launching a secure, reliable product. Moving forward, users will be more likely to trust the developer, investing in future products or services they provide. Thanks to this, embracing SbD can be an effective way to drive long-term organisational success and efficiency.
Ministry of Defence and Kahootz
The Ministry of Defence turned to Kahootz to create a secure collaboration tool, following the strictest SbD principles to craft an information systems and services platform for sharing information among defence industry partners, governmental agencies, and allied nations across the world.
The MOD works with large amounts of extremely sensitive data, which has to be handled with the utmost care. Any cloud collaboration platform it uses must also abide by leading national and international standards of security, from the NCSC’s 14 Cloud Security Principles to the U.S. Department of Defense’s IL2 standards.
Fortunately, Kahootz meets these lofty standards. It is IL2 certified, compliant with the UK’s 14 Cloud Security Principles, and also meets ISO27001 certification standards. On top of that, Kahootz’s systems undergo annual IT health checks under CHECK-accredited partners to ensure its standards of security remain at their peak, year after year.
This commitment to security allowed Kahootz, in conjunction with the MOD, to develop Defence Share, which has now become the MOD’s primary secure cloud collaboration platform. Defence Share supports the safe storage and transfer of OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE data between MOD teams and even external agencies, stakeholders, and partners.
Implementing Secure by Design
With the clear benefits of Secure by Design principles, many organisations are eager to employ this approach for future projects and developments. However, implementing the Secure by Design philosophy can be a challenge, and must be approached with consideration and preparation. The following best practices should aid in getting the most out of this method:
- Shared Responsibility: A fundamental element of Secure by Design is that it can only work if all relevant parties embrace and adapt to it. Responsibility cannot fall on any single group or individual. Duties must be assigned, roles delegated, and all teams must fully follow Secure by Design principles to see projects through to the most secure conclusions.
- Extending Security Standards: Secure by Design is only fully effective if outside teams follow it as well. Organisations should review third-party security levels and activities, set clear rules, and ensure that the teams they work with follow the same high standards.
- Continuous Security Practices: A large part of the Secure by Design approach revolves around continuity and ongoing security processes. Regular reviews, scans, and reports will help to paint the full picture of how, where, and why things are working and where there might be vulnerabilities.
- Investment in Technology: One of the UK government’s own SbD principles is to source secure technology products, which might include development tools, collaboration platforms, and other solutions that help in fulfilling SbD development. There are existing tools that make it easier to comply and abide by SbD principles, such as Kahootz, the secure cloud collaboration platform.
How Kahootz Follows Secure By Design Principles
To ensure it delivers the most secure cloud collaboration platform, capable of keeping sensitive data safe, Kahootz follows all 10 of the UK’s Secure By Design Principles. Security is an innate part of this platform’s design.
It runs on the UK’s most trusted servers, for example, which are situated in secure complexes with strictly-controlled access and 24/7 CCTV. Additionally, every piece of data on the platform is encrypted using a secure HTTPS/SSL connection, ensuring that data is always safe, both at rest and in transit.
Kahootz is robust enough to withstand a range of cyber-attacks, including CSS, SQL injection, and man-in-the-middle attacks. It is also regularly maintained, updated, and upgraded, with on-going improvements to security. Plus, the entire system is annually audited by independent specialists to ensure it maintains its high standards.
Conclusion: Building a Secure Future Through Collaboration
In critical areas such as government and defence, Secure by Design is not optional, but an imperative, invaluable method of developing compliant products and successfully delivering secure products and systems. Only by embedding security from the start of development and committing to consistent and comprehensive analysis can organisations create the most resilient, trustworthy software.
If your organisation needs to create such software, but also faces the risks and challenges of collaborating across teams, agencies, and partners, following SbD principles can be trickier. A secure collaboration tool, like Kahootz, makes it much easier, ensuring trust, compliance, and operational integrity from start to finish of the product development lifecycle.
Discover how a collaboration platform built with security at its core can enable your organisation to share information and work with others in the most efficient, secure way. Contact the Kahootz team to see this system in action, and speak with our specialists to learn more about how it can enhance your cybersecurity standards and drastically reduce your risk of data breaches and the costly losses they entail.
