Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Weir, C, Becker, I, Noble, J, Blair, L, Sasse, MA, Rashid, A. Interventions for long‐term software security: Creating a lightweight program of assurance techniques for developers. Softw: Pract Exper. 2019; 1– 24. https://doi.org/10.1002/spe.2774 which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spe.2774 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Interventions for Long Term Software Security
T2 - Creating a Lightweight Program of Assurance Techniques for Developers
AU - Weir, Charles
AU - Becker, Ingolf
AU - Noble, James
AU - Blair, Lynne
AU - Sasse, M. Angela
AU - Rashid, Awais
N1 - This is the authors' preprint version of the following article: Weir, C, Becker, I, Noble, J, Blair, L, Sasse, MA, Rashid, A. Interventions for long‐term software security: Creating a lightweight program of assurance techniques for developers. Softw: Pract Exper. 2019; 1– 24, which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spe.2774
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - Though some software development teams are highly effective at delivering security, others either do not care or do not have access to security experts to teach them how. Unfortunately, these latter teams are still responsible for the security of the systems they build: systems that are ever more important to ever more people. We propose that a series of lightweight interventions, six hours of facilitated workshops delivered over three months, can improve a team’s motivation to consider security and awareness of assurance techniques, changing its security culture even when no security experts are involved. The interventions were developed after an Appreciative Inquiry and Grounded Theory survey of security professionals to find out what approaches work best. We tested the interventions in a Participatory Action Research field study where we delivered the workshops to three soft- ware development organizations, and evaluated their effectiveness through interviews be- forehand, immediately afterwards, and after twelve months. We found that the interventions can be effective with teams with limited or no security experience, and that improvement is long lasting. This approach and the learning points arising from the work here have the potential to be applied in many development teams, improving the security of software worldwide.
AB - Though some software development teams are highly effective at delivering security, others either do not care or do not have access to security experts to teach them how. Unfortunately, these latter teams are still responsible for the security of the systems they build: systems that are ever more important to ever more people. We propose that a series of lightweight interventions, six hours of facilitated workshops delivered over three months, can improve a team’s motivation to consider security and awareness of assurance techniques, changing its security culture even when no security experts are involved. The interventions were developed after an Appreciative Inquiry and Grounded Theory survey of security professionals to find out what approaches work best. We tested the interventions in a Participatory Action Research field study where we delivered the workshops to three soft- ware development organizations, and evaluated their effectiveness through interviews be- forehand, immediately afterwards, and after twelve months. We found that the interventions can be effective with teams with limited or no security experience, and that improvement is long lasting. This approach and the learning points arising from the work here have the potential to be applied in many development teams, improving the security of software worldwide.
KW - action research
KW - cybersecurity
KW - developer-centered security
KW - intervention
KW - software developer
KW - software security
U2 - 10.1002/spe.2774
DO - 10.1002/spe.2774
M3 - Journal article
VL - 50
SP - 275
EP - 298
JO - Software: Practice and Experience
JF - Software: Practice and Experience
SN - 0038-0644
IS - 3
ER -