Application Security Program Benchmarking
A data driven approach to application security.
Everchanging Application Security Landscape
At a time when technology and the security landscape are continually evolving, building an application security program that stays current in a domain under constant transformation is challenging. To be able to adopt application security activities effectively throughout an organization, there needs to be a formalized application security program to define and guide how an organization implements application security.
Given how rapidly application development techniques and methodologies are transforming, companies need to ensure that their security practices are staying current with the ever-changing pressures around compliance/governance, software deployment, DevOps, SDLC, and training. Understanding the current level of maturity and developing a data-driven plan to evolve your application security program is key to the success of your organization’s security efforts.
The Value of Benchmarking Your Efforts
Leverage Real World Data to Drive Your Application Security Program
A formalized application security program is crucial in any organization’s journey to build a strong foundation around their application security aspirations. Benchmarking your organization’s program with real world data across multiple business verticals will help augment your efforts and determine areas that require focus based on your business’ needs and lessons learned from other mature programs in the industry.
Compare Your Efforts Against Your Peers
You can leverage data from your benchmarking efforts to compare your efforts to others within your peer vertical group and other business verticals that are also leveraging the same industry standard application security framework. Benchmarking efforts allows an organization to use a consistent approach to objectively measure the organization’s application security program maturity and make informed decisions based on your business objectives.
Track Your Progress
Benchmarking your application security program allows you to measure the maturity of your efforts objectively over time. Leveraging industry standard frameworks to benchmark your efforts allows you to measure and showcase progress over time. Benchmarking scorecards and visuals enables high bandwidth conversations with the organization’s leadership teams, showcasing the positive influence that your application security program is having on the organization’s business goals.
Learn from Other Application Security Programs
Industry standard benchmarks provide data regarding participating organizations’ application security programs and their current state. The data provides information regarding activities that are effective and adding value in today’s application security climate. The data can be leveraged to set application security aspirations focused on actionable enhancements.
The Benchmarking Deliverables
The output of every benchmarking effort will yield a report about the current state of your application security program with details around areas that need focus for improvement along with areas that are currently addressing the organization’s application security needs effectively.
These deliverables contain information at various levels of detail which can be directly leveraged to have appropriate discussions at executive and board meetings.
Comparison with Data Available from Organizations in the Benchmark
Receive visual comparisons of your organization’s application security program’s maturity against data available from the benchmarking report at various resolutions. A low-resolution view compares the high watermark score against the industry standard average across all security practices and a high-resolution view contrasts your organization’s program at the activity level across all activities within the industry standard application security framework.
Comparison Against Peer Organizations Within Your Business Vertical
Similar to the high watermark and benchmarking scorecard that will compare your organization’s application security program with all industry data, but equivalent views will be generated for comparisons against other organizations within your industry vertical.
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