New Cybersecurity Threats Make Encryption More Important in Software Development

Data encryption has become more of a priority than ever in many industries. The software development sector is no exception. 

Software developers have to take many things into consideration these days. They are obviously under greater pressure than ever to release new applications more efficiently and offer more sophisticated features than ever. They must also make cyber security a greater priority as cyber attacks become more prevalent. 

Around a third of the world’s population was affected by data breaches in 2018 alone. That figure has risen dramatically over the last couple of years as cyber criminals took advantage of the increased reliance on the Internet during the pandemic. Companies were spending over $100 billion a year on cyber security before the pandemic and discovered it wasn’t sufficient. They really need to step up their game now as data breaches become even more pressing concerns. 

Software developers are under even greater pressure to respond to online security concerns. For the past several years, software developers have been advised to write more secure code. New DevOps processes have made security a court element of the design process. However, they didn’t emphasize the importance of making the application itself more secure until recently. The growing number of cyber attacks every year has finally forced them to realize this is a non-negotiable requirement. 

One of the most important things that software developers need to focus on is data encryption. Fortunately, there are a growing number of coding platforms that allow them to minimize these risks and take advantage of greater encryption technologies. Services like SD-WAN are among them. This is an invaluable tactic to slash the risks of cyber attacks. 

How has data encryption become a crucial aspect of the business model for software developers? 

The importance of bolstering data security when developing new software applications cannot be overstated. Here are several reasons data encryption has become so important for the software development process. 

Securing code from intellectual property thieves and saboteurs 

There are many reasons that hackers try to commit cyberattacks. One reason is that they sometimes want to steal code from software developers. They might want to steal code to make their own applications before the developer can copyright their own and bring it to market. This is one of the less common motivations of cybercriminals, but it is certainly not unheard of. 

A more common issue is that they want to manipulate and ruin the code for some reason. They might have a personal grievance against the software development company and want to see their application fail. They might have an idea logical agenda, such as opposing a social justice initiative that is supported by the application. They might want to intentionally prevent the application from working to hurt the financial standing of the company in order to short sell the stock when the application fails and the stock price plummets. They might want to hack the application to introduce a back door virus or security flaw that will allow them to exploit the eventual users of the application. 

Whatever their motive might be, there are a lot of hackers that might want to manipulate the code of a software development company. Developers need to do everything that they can to shore up their defenses to keep this from happening. 

This is one of the easiest ways to employ data encryption in the software development profession. The code itself can be easily encrypted through a variety of DevOps or other coding interfaces. This can significantly reduce the risk that malicious hackers well compromise the code. 

Adhere to new data privacy standards 

The growing number of cyber attacks has not escaped the attention of government regulators. Governments around the world have introduced laws like the Global Data Privacy Requirement and the California Consumer Privacy Act to pressure companies to take data privacy more seriously. 

There are a lot of different requirements in these laws. The policies that have received the most attention are those that required companies to be transparent with their data collection efforts and take reasonable steps to let customers know what data has been collected and destroy it at the customers’ request. 

However, the major data protection laws also require companies to take greater steps to protect customer data from third parties. One part of this initiative has been reducing the scope that data can be shared with other companies. This is one of the reasons that Google and other companies have started getting rid of third-party cookies. However, a more important element of these new data privacy laws is the expectation that companies protect data from hackers. 

Data encryption has been a core part of the shift towards greater data security. Many laws actually require certain types of data to be encrypted. Even in regions where data security laws are less strict, there is serious pressure from various industry groups to ensure data is encrypted. This is why companies like Google made data encryption a standard even before it was a legal requirement. 

Software developers are not exempt from these standards. In fact, they are the profession that is most likely be scrutinized by industry regulators. Therefore, they must make data encryption a major focus of the design process to avoid regulatory issues. 

Set customer concerns at ease 

Customers are aware of the growing risk of cyberattacks. The last thing they want to do is purchase a software application that requires them to share personal data that will be exploited by hackers at a later date. 

Software developers need to make data security focus to set their minds at ease. They should make sure that it is encrypted even if it is not a legal requirement.