Security requirements must describe the system and its risk
“The software must be secure” cannot be designed, priced or accepted objectively. Start with the business purpose, data categories, users, privileged actions, locations, integrations, internet exposure, service dependencies, availability and recovery expectations.
No checklist or test can prove that software has no vulnerabilities. The goal is to define proportionate practices, verify agreed controls, treat findings and operate the released system responsibly.
1. Assign security and data responsibilities
- Business and data owner
- Access approvers and privileged administrators
- Development, review and release responsibility
- Hosting, patching, monitoring and backup owner
- Incident, communication and escalation contacts
- Third-party service and integration owners
A cloud provider, software supplier and client may each control different layers. The contract and operating plan should state those boundaries.
2. Define identity, access and sensitive actions
Specify user identity, authentication, account recovery, roles, permissions, approval limits, segregation of duties, session behavior and privileged access. High-impact actions may require re-authentication, dual control, notification or extra logging according to risk.
The organization should define who authorizes access, how inactive users are removed and how permissions are reviewed.
3. Document data protection and lifecycle
Identify permitted use, classification, storage locations, transfers, exports, retention, deletion, backup and exit requirements. State where encryption is expected and who manages keys or credentials. Encryption does not correct excessive permissions, unsafe exports or uncontrolled devices by itself.
4. Require secure development and release practices
- Controlled source repositories and authorized contributors
- Review of material code, configuration and infrastructure changes
- Separate development, testing and production environments
- Secret, dependency and build-artifact management
- Security testing appropriate to the application and risk
- Recorded releases, approvals, rollback and defect treatment
Ask for evidence that matches the agreed practice. A scanner report is one input; it is not proof that every business-logic, access or operational risk has been tested.
5. Specify verification and acceptance
Translate requirements into testable outcomes for authentication, authorization, validation, sessions, sensitive transactions, files, APIs, logging, configuration, backups and restoration. Define the expected verification depth, environment, test data, finding severity, correction, retest and acceptance authority.
Independent review may be required for higher-risk systems, but its scope and independence must be explicit.
6. Design hosting, recovery and continuity together
Compare cloud, private hosting, on-premise or hybrid options using data sensitivity, connectivity, internal capacity, physical security, patching, monitoring, backup, recovery, scalability and cost. Record recovery objectives and dependencies only after the business owner approves what loss and downtime are tolerable.
Backups need defined scope, frequency, retention, protection, owner and restoration tests. An untested backup is not verified recovery capability.
7. Prepare logging, monitoring and incident handling
Identify important security and operational events, log access, time synchronization, retention, alert ownership and escalation. The incident plan should cover triage, containment, evidence, restoration, communication, required notification, root-cause review and follow-up actions.
Do not promise a response time unless service hours, severity definitions, dependencies and measurement rules are included in an approved support agreement.
8. Review integrations and software dependencies
For each API, identity service, payment service, device or external platform, document authentication, authorized data, validation, rate or volume assumptions, errors, retries, reconciliation, monitoring, version change and support ownership. Maintain an approved way to identify and update material software dependencies.
9. Plan maintenance, change and exit
Security continues after launch. Define supported versions, patch and dependency review, vulnerability reporting, change approval, regression testing, access review, restoration tests and service reporting. Exit planning should cover data export, deletion, credentials, domains, infrastructure, source or licence terms, documents and unresolved findings.
Evidence buyers can request
- Responsibility matrix and architecture or data-flow overview
- Requirements and verification traceability
- Release and change-control records
- Access model and privileged-role list
- Backup and restoration-test evidence
- Finding register with ownership and treatment
- Incident and support escalation procedure
Evidence must be current, relevant to the proposed system and shared with appropriate confidentiality. A document title alone is not proof that a practice is operating.
Primary guidance used for this article
The checklist was cross-checked against NIST SP 800-218 Secure Software Development Framework, CISA’s Secure by Demand Guide for software buyers, and the OWASP Application Security Verification Standard. These are reference frameworks, not evidence that a supplier or product is certified or compliant.