Legal

Secure Development Policy

Purpose

This Secure Development Policy establishes Grayphite's commitment to integrating security into the design, development, testing, deployment, maintenance, and retirement of software, systems, and applications. The policy ensures that secure development practices protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information assets, reduce software-related risks, and support compliance with International Organization for Standardization ISO 27001:2022 and other applicable security requirements.

Scope

This policy applies to all Grayphite employees, contractors, consultants, outsourced development partners, and third-party vendors involved in software development, testing, deployment, maintenance, or integration activities.

This policy covers:

  • In-house software development
  • Outsourced and partner-led development
  • Customer-facing applications
  • Internal business systems
  • APIs and integrations
  • Source code repositories
  • Development, testing, staging, and production environments
  • Third-party software components, libraries, frameworks, and platforms
  • All phases of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), from design through decommissioning

Policy Principles

Grayphite adopts secure development practices throughout the Software Development Lifecycle to ensure that security is embedded into every stage of software creation and maintenance.

1. Secure Development Environment

Grayphite shall maintain dedicated and access-controlled development environments to protect software assets, source code, and development resources from unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure.

This includes:

  • Role-based access controls
  • Multi-factor authentication where applicable
  • Segregation of development, testing, and production environments
  • Activity logging and monitoring

2. Secure Development Standards

Developers shall follow industry-recognized secure coding standards, frameworks, and best practices to reduce software vulnerabilities and security defects.

Secure development guidance shall include:

  • Secure coding standards
  • Security architecture principles
  • Input validation and output encoding
  • Authentication and authorization controls
  • Secure session management
  • Error handling and logging practices

3. Security Throughout the SDLC

Security requirements shall be integrated into every phase of the Software Development Lifecycle.

This includes:

  • Security requirements during design
  • Threat modeling and architecture reviews
  • Secure code reviews
  • Security testing and validation
  • Vulnerability remediation before release
  • Secure deployment practices

4. Source Code Protection

All source code shall be stored in secure repository services that protect its confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

This includes:

  • Access-controlled repositories
  • Encryption where applicable
  • Backup and recovery mechanisms
  • Audit logging of code changes
  • Branch protection and approval workflows

5. Version Control and Change Integrity

Grayphite shall maintain version control for all software assets to ensure traceability, accountability, and integrity of all code changes.

This includes:

  • Commit tracking
  • Change history retention
  • Peer review requirements
  • Controlled merge and release processes
  • Rollback capabilities where applicable

6. Secure Testing and Validation

Applications and systems shall undergo security verification throughout development and prior to deployment.

Security validation may include:

  • Static application security testing (SAST)
  • Dynamic application security testing (DAST)
  • Dependency and component scanning
  • Vulnerability assessments
  • Manual security reviews
  • Regression testing for security fixes

7. Personnel Competency and Training

Grayphite shall employ qualified personnel for software development activities and provide ongoing training to ensure awareness of evolving secure development practices, threats, vulnerabilities, and technologies.

Training may include:

  • Secure coding practices
  • Application security principles
  • Vulnerability management
  • Emerging threat awareness
  • Regulatory and compliance requirements

8. Third-Party Software and Components

Third-party software, frameworks, libraries, and components shall be evaluated, approved, and protected in accordance with licensing obligations, intellectual property rights, and security requirements.

Grayphite shall:

  • Use only authorized third-party components
  • Respect licensing and ownership restrictions
  • Apply vendor-approved customization only
  • Monitor components for vulnerabilities and updates

9. Technology and Tooling

Grayphite shall provide development and quality assurance teams with modern tools, platforms, and technologies that support secure development, testing, automation, and quality assurance.

10. Client Security Requirements

Where applicable, client-specific security, quality, and compliance requirements shall be incorporated into the software development process and delivery lifecycle.

11. Monitoring and Accountability

Development activities, repositories, environments, and deployment processes shall be monitored to detect unauthorized activity, unplanned changes, or policy violations.

Unauthorized modification, misuse, or non-compliance shall be investigated and addressed through established corrective and disciplinary procedures.

Governance

The implementation and oversight of this policy is governed by Grayphite's Information Security, Engineering, and Technology leadership functions.

Responsibilities include:

  • Defining secure development standards
  • Reviewing development controls and processes
  • Approving tools, frameworks, and repositories
  • Monitoring compliance with secure development requirements
  • Managing vulnerability remediation and release approvals
  • Conducting periodic audits and process reviews

All personnel involved in software development are accountable for complying with this policy.

Continuous Improvement

Grayphite continuously reviews and enhances its secure development practices to address evolving threats, emerging technologies, business requirements, and regulatory expectations.

This includes:

  • Periodic policy reviews
  • Security incident analysis
  • Vulnerability trend monitoring
  • Lessons learned from audits and assessments
  • Updates to tools, standards, and training programs
  • Continuous refinement of SDLC security controls

Contact

For questions regarding Grayphite's security and compliance practices, please contact: security@grayphite.com