Inspecting Security in Application Development: Where to Start Learning

Inspecting Security in Application Development

Published August 10, 2025

Photo: Padlock on keyboard symbolizing security inspection. Credit: Kris from Pixabay

Vulnerability scanning is an automated process that detects security weaknesses in an application’s code and environment. A common coding vulnerability is SQL injection, which allows attackers to manipulate databases through unsafe inputs. Vulnerability scanners help identify such issues quickly. Threat modeling, like the STRIDE methodology, systematically identifies threats such as spoofing, tampering, and denial of service. It involves recognizing and categorizing potential security risks to design better defenses. Together, these practices help developers and security teams find and fix vulnerabilities early, reducing the risk of attacks and improving overall application security.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is vulnerability scanning?

It is the process of searching for security vulnerabilities from within an application's code and from outside of the application using vulnerability scanning.

Vulnerability scanning helps find weaknesses both in the code and in the system environment before attackers exploit them.

2. Which of the following is a common coding vulnerability?

SQL injection

SQL injection allows attackers to manipulate databases through insecure input, making it a frequent and dangerous vulnerability.

3. What is the primary function of a vulnerability scanner?

It is an automated tool that checks for vulnerabilities in software code.

Vulnerability scanners quickly identify known security issues without manual effort, helping improve software safety.

4. Which threat model methodology checks for the following threat categories: spoofing, tampering, repudiation, information disclosure, denial of service, and elevation of privileges?

STRIDE

STRIDE is a framework to systematically identify different types of security threats during threat modeling.

5. What is threat modeling?

The identification, categorization, and enumeration of possible security threats to an application.

Threat modeling helps teams understand risks and design defenses early in development.