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Welcome to Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2020!

It’s October again, and that can only mean one thing - it’s the Cybersecurity Awareness Month! Observed each year, Cybersecurity Awareness Month aims to educate organizations and individuals on all things cybersecurity and encourage the more secure usage and implementation of software, applications, IoT devices, and more.

To do our part and help spread awareness about the importance of cybersecurity, with a specific focus on software security, over the next few weeks, Checkmarx will be releasing a wide variety of content to empower organizations, AppSec teams, developers, and software end users alike to be more cyber-vigilant.

5 Reasons to Prioritize Software Security

To kick things off, we launched a brand-new eBook outlining five reasons why software security needs to be a higher priority.

As technology evolves at a pace like never before and digital transformation shifts into hyperdrive, everyone is feeling the effects. DevOps teams, AppSec managers, and developers are certainly no exception, working to develop and deploy software at expedited rates to keep their businesses competitive. However, this speed comes at a price, often causing security to fall by the wayside – a big reason why vulnerable software and applications are now the leading cause of security breaches.

Our eBook is designed to help readers understand the biggest trends impacting today’s software landscape and arm them with the insights needed to grab software security by the horns and implement it across their DevOps practices. Visit Checkmarx’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2020 hub to download this essential guide to kick-off your month right, along with infographics, research, and more! And, while you’re perusing our materials, make sure to register for our upcoming educational webinar on October 14 led by our own cybersecurity evangelist Susan St. Clair, where she’ll take a deeper dive into the eBook takeaways and best practices for kick-starting a comprehensive AppSec program.

Application Security: Turbulence often Leads to Transformation

Most security and risk (S&R) professionals in our industry have heard of Top 10 Lists. For example, OWASP and their community of contributors have expanded their Top 10 security projects to include Mobile Apps, APIs, IoT, Serverless, Containers, Blockchain, etc. In fact, there are several OWASP Projects currently underway. Comparably, Forrester recently released their report on The Top Security Technology Trends To Watch, 2020. Through the use of client queries, research projects, and industry perspectives, the Forrester report discusses trends that will likely disrupt S&R practices over the next three years.

As organizations adopt DevOps methodologies to increase software release frequency, automation of security technologies within the continuous integration, delivery, and deployment (CI/CD) toolchain is key to releasing more secure software—faster. Those moving towards DevSecOps acknowledge that security cannot become a point of contention that slows release frequency, but instead, should actually help increase it.

Forrester notes that the No. 1 security and risk technology trend highlights the need for application security tools to be integrated (automatically) with CI/CD pipelines to mitigate process gaps. In fact, the report states, “Organizations that can’t bridge the gaps will see delayed product releases or increases in the number of security issues in released products.” Simply put, if organizations cannot address security tool integration and automation within their software development processes, then it will likely lead to decreased revenue opportunities and increased operational risks. To learn more about Forrester’s No. 1 trend observation and recommendation, download the full report here.

Checkmarx’s ‘Day in the Life’ Q&A series - Day in the Life of a Security Researcher

So, what else do we have in store this month? In light of this year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month theme – “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart” – we’ll be publishing a weekly Q&A with some of our experts here at Checkmarx to provide an inside look at their roles in pushing security innovation and how they help to drive software security awareness and action.

Check out our first piece as we sit down with Checkmarx’s Director of Security Research Erez Yalon and tune in each week throughout the month for more.

We’re excited to bring you a strong stream of informative and actionable content to help keep you and your business secure from emerging software security risks. We encourage you to follow along on our social channels – comment, post, and tweet at us using the hashtags #IAmSoftwareSecure, #CybersecurityAwarenessMonth, and #BeCyberSmart – and visit our Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2020 resource center frequently for updates and new material throughout the month!