The 2019 Capital One cyber incident is still fresh on our minds. Poor code quality was one of the main reasons for hackers to steal the personal information of 106 million individuals. A simple code audit and Capital One could have avoided significant financial losses.
To avert a scenario like Capital One, you can invest in a process like source code audit that prevents vulnerabilities and ensures code quality.
So, you must perform a code audit for two primary purposes – avoiding financial losses and saving your company’s reputation. In a simple line, consider software code audit a strategic investment for protecting your business and building trust.
This blog will explain why you should care and rectify weak code. Further, we will also explain what a good code audit cover. So, without any ado, let’s begin.
Let’s break down each aspect and understand how your app or portal that a weak code has can cost your business.
Data Breaches
A weak code can expose sensitive information to unauthorized access.
Here are some points that explain the vulnerability exploits:
Unsecure coding practices: Code containing errors, like buffer overflows or SQL injection vulnerabilities, can create entry points for attackers to inject malicious code.
Insufficient input validation: If code doesn’t correctly validate user input, attackers can inject malicious scripts.
Broken authentication and authorization: Weak password hashing, lack of multi-factor authentication, or improper access controls can allow attackers to bypass security measures and steal data.
Now, data breaches can lead to financial issues. This table will explain the main challenges.
Category
Explanation
Fines
Regulatory bodies like the GDPR can impose fines for information theft. Here’s an interesting stat – The international average cost of a data breach (in 2023) was USD 4.45 million!
Legal costs
Lawsuits from affected individuals and regulatory investigations can incur significant legal fees
Customer compensation
Businesses might be liable to compensate affected customers for damages like identity theft or fraud.
Loss of business
Breaches can damage brand reputation and lead to customer loss, impacting revenue
Downtime
This facet is directly proportional to a faulty code. If your code contains errors, the following outcomes have high possibilities:
Bugs and crashes
Integration issues
Scalability problems
Security exploits
Deployment risks
A code audit does prevent such outcomes. But, before delving deep into understanding software code audit, you need to be aware of the risks of not performing one.
Understand this – A faulty code can lead to lost productivity. Every minute of downtime can translate to low employee efficiency, impacting output and revenue. Furthermore, you can lose potential revenue if customers cannot access services or make purchases due to downtime.
Depending on the industry, downtime might include additional costs like restoring lost data or rerouting operations.
Compliance Issues
If you are a business in sectors like healthcare or finance, it is mandatory to perform a code audit. For instance, if you don’t comply with HIPAA or PCI DSS regulations, get ready to pay a hefty fine.
Similar to data breaches, non-compliance can damage a company’s reputation and hamper customer trust. In addition, you can also face operational disruptions, as implementing compliance measures after violations can interrupt operations and incur additional costs.
So, you should care about performing a source or website code audit. This way, you can ensure data safety, compliance with the regulations, and downtime prevention.
Tip: We have a handy resource that can help boost your cyber security. Read our blog on the ‘Top Front End Security Best Practices’ for these invaluable insights.
Code Audit: What Does it Cover?
Now, let’s come to the technical side of code audit. What does this process cover?
Well, to begin with, you should understand the meaning of code audit.
In simple words, code audit implies analyzing your existing code to look for issues, shortcomings, or flaws in your project. Generally, experienced programmers perform these audits.
A code audit ensures your software is reliable, secure, and easy to maintain. Generally, it covers the following elements:
Security
Code quality
Performance
Compliance
The additional areas of a code audit cover architecture and tech stack analysis. Also, detailed and effective audits include performance testing, error handling, and maintainability. The term, ‘source code audit’ can make the coverage concept more clear. Refer the next section for in-depth details.
What is a Source Code Audit?
In simple terms, a source code audit is an all-inclusive analysis of a software application’s underlying code. This evaluation helps identify potential vulnerabilities, bugs, security breaches, and deviations from coding standards.
A source code audit is important for the following reasons:
It identifies potential vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit
A detailed audit can improves code readability, maintainability, and efficiency
It ensures adherence to coding standards and regulations
You can reduce the chances of software failures through a systematic audit
Generally, a source code audit includes the following stages:
Static Analysis
Dynamic Analysis
Vulnerability Scanning
Compliance Checks
Performance Analysis
Code Review
Your internal security teams can perform such evaluation. However, if you don’t have available resources, it’s a good idea to hire external security consultants for specialized audits.
The Types of Code Audit
There are several categories of code audits. After all, you can customize this process to serve your unique requirements.
However, as a decision-maker, you should understand some popular software code audit types.
Here are the main ones:
Manual code audit: In this type, a developer examines the source code line by line and checks for errors, inconsistencies, and bad practices.
Security audit: As the name suggests, this type of code audit focuses on vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit.
Front-end review: A developer focuses on the user experience of the website or app, ensuring things like responsiveness, clarity, and performance.
Back-end review: This type of audit evaluates the code structure, efficiency, and potential technical issues.
Compliance audit: This analysis ensures that your code follows specific regulations or industry standards.
Overall, dedicated developers can perform any of these audits as per your requirements. So, ensure you understand the basics of these evaluations to make the best decision.
Focus Areas of a Code Audit
Which aspects does a code audit cover?
Well, the answer to this question is subjective. However, a comprehensive software code audit includes the following vital facets:
Security
Code quality
Performance
Compliance
To offer a simplified flow of information, we will present the information in a tabular format for each focus area.
1. Security
Vulnerability assessment
Input validation
Authorization and access control
A code audit identifies weaknesses in the code that attackers could exploit to gain access, steal data, or disrupt operations
This evaluation verifies that user input doesn’t introduce security risks like SQL injection or cross-site scripting
Make sure only authorized users access specific data and functionality.
2. Code Quality
Coding standards and best practices
Code complexity
Documentation
A code audit checks for adherence to established coding rules that promote readability, consistency, and ease of maintenance
It also identifies areas where the code is overly complex or difficult to understand.
A thorough evaluation assesses the availability and quality of documentation explaining the code’s purpose, functionalities, and logic.
3. Performance
Resource usage
Scalability
Algorithm and data structure choices
An audit evaluates how a code utilizes resources like memory, CPU, and network bandwidth.
It analyzes the code’s ability to handle increased load and user traffic without performance issues
A source code audit checks if the code uses suitable algorithms and data structures for optimal performance and memory usage.
4. Compliance
Industry regulations
Explanation
A code audit verifies compliance with relevant industry regulations or data privacy laws that apply to the software
It also checks adherence to the organization’s specific coding standards and best practices.
Software Code Audit Stepwise Process
By now, you must be sure that a code audit is one of the most vital processes in the IT field. So, the decision to hire dedicated developers for this must be on your mind.
If you have this strategy lined up, ensure that you know the steps experts perform for conducting a source code audit. This section contains all the crucial details of each stage.
The Preparation Phase
In this stage, the developers define your codebase. Then, they outline aspects like security, performance, speed, and others for audit purposes.
The preparation stage also involves the collection of relevant documents, code samples, and other details about the process. Finally, the preparation phase also consists of choosing the type of code audit experts according to the project’s requirements.
Codebase Analysis Phase
The analysis phase in a software code audit involves a detailed evaluation of the structure, design, and tech stack. Experienced developers can use automated tools to find errors, bugs, and compliance with standard regulations.
Then, they find potential risks and areas for improvement (if any) by examining the code samples.
In-depth Assessment
This stage deals with a detailed assessment of security weaknesses, resource usage, and code efficiency.
The developers perform all of the following types of evaluations:
Performance analysis
Vulnerability assessment
Compliance review
Maintainability assessment
After completing these steps, the concerned personnel move towards reporting the entire code audit.
The Reporting Stage
This final step ensures proper recording of the code audit in a systematic manner. The auditors include details on risks, issues, improvement scope, and recommendations.
The best source code audit also includes a plan to address the critical facets depending on the severity. So, ensure that you receive a report that consists of all such parameters at a fluent pace.
Popular Code Audit Tools
Plenty of software in the market can lead to some confusion. So, thorough knowledge of the best source code audit tools can prove helpful.
This information equips you to make the right decisions and gauge whether a company is using the best options in the market. So, consider these names for proper code audit:
A code audit is one of the most vital evaluations in any software development project. Expert auditors can assess your codebase and create a solid report covering security, code quality, performance, and compliance.
Once you receive a source code audit report, rectifying any shortcomings or potential improvements becomes easier. The best developers follow a systematic process to conduct a software code audit.
This process includes steps like preparation, codebase analysis, in-depth assessment, and final documentation. Specific automation tools like Jmeter and ESLint can be helpful to augment the quality of code audits.
So, to prevent data breaches and downtime and save yourself from financial losses, make it a mandatory inclusion in your project plan. For more assistance, contact our team, and we will perform a customized source code audit to ensure your end product is ready for a final take-off.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How much does a code audit cost?
The cost of a code audit varies based on factors like code size, complexity, industry regulations, and the depth of the audit. Generally, it can cost above USD 1000.
2. What are the most effective code audit tools?
Some of the most popular code audit tools include static analysis tools like SonarQube, Checkmarx, and Veracode. You can also choose dynamic analysis tools like Burp Suite and AppScan. If you want to explore open source options, ESLint, FindBugs, and PyLint can be good choices.
3. How long does a code audit take?
The duration of a code audit depends on the codebase size and complexity. Small projects might take a few days, while large enterprise web applications could require weeks or even months.
4. When do you need a code audit?
You should consider a code audit before launching a new product to identify vulnerabilities and improve quality. Also, a source code audit can be crucial after a security breach to understand how it happened. It is vital to implement audits regularly as part of your software development lifecycle to maintain code health.
Nitin has over 20 years of IT experience and 3+ years of experience in on-site work in Arizona, USA. In all these years, he has held the positions of delivery manager, module lead, and senior consultant. Expert in advocating product life cycle phases while using self-motivational skills and problem-solving abilities. He works on the principle of “Always Deliver More than Expected.”
