Security Innovation Packages Intelligence into Web-Based Application Security Guidance System

April 20, 2007; 07:44 AM
Organizations are hungry for an effective approach toward internalizing security intelligence for application development activities and documenting their approach for regulatory compliance. Security Innovation has heeded the call and unveiled TeamMentor, the industry’s first Web-based application security learning and knowledge management system for software development. In a wiki-like format, TeamMentor guides software development teams through the process of consistently defining, designing, coding, testing and deploying secure software applications. Organizations can incorporate corporate standards to expand and adapt TeamMentor to their specific environments, making it an invaluable asset for secure software development.

“The demand for TeamMentor validates the absolute requirement of application security in modern software,” said Jason Taylor, vice president of security services at Security Innovation. “Security Innovation solves specific knowledge and process problems that organizations face in developing secure applications. We have found that organizations want to standardize secure application development activities and be able to report on those activities for various regulatory requirements and internal policies. TeamMentor encompasses both by allowing organizations to bundle Security Innovation’s unrivaled best-practices guidance and e-Learning modules into a software security intelligence system that can be customized for an organization’s specific needs.”

TeamMentor is a structured repository of secure development assets including coding practices, code snippets, e-Learning modules, rules, libraries, checklists and a vulnerability encyclopedia, that are both broad and re-usable across multiple development teams. The first development languages covered are Java and ASP.NET for Web applications and several of the most commonly used databases. The content can also contain optional e-Learning modules from Security Innovation’s How to Break Software Security™ and Creating Secure Code courses.

“There is a growing realization that building strong software is good for business. Improving the software development process has cost benefits and more industry regulations are requiring proof of steps taken to secure sensitive information,” said Charles Kolodgy, research director at IDC. “Although many organizations want to improve their software development, they are still slaves to time-to-market and compliance pressures. With TeamMentor, developers are afforded tools and education that can improve application security, while remaining competitive in meeting business and regulatory requirements.”

“A sophisticated application security guidance system, TeamMentor encapsulates expertise gained by Security Innovation’s years of hands-on experience,” said Ed Adams, president and CEO of Security Innovation. “Web 2.0 components such as collaboration, editorial comment and voting allow team members and larger user groups to discuss how the available guidance applies to their specific applications and how to focus and extend that guidance throughout their organizations.”

Technical Specs

The back end of the TeamMentor system is Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and the delivery and authoring engines are written in C#. The browser interface is written in AJAX and supports IE6/IE7. System requirements are Microsoft SQL Server 2005 system with 5GB available space, and an AJAX-capable browser.

Pricing and Availability

TeamMentor v1.0 ships to the public on April 17, 2007. Pricing begins at $25,000 for a team license.

Security Innovation is running a special charter membership program for early adopters.

About Security Innovation

Security Innovation, Inc. is an independent application security firm that offers education, risk assessment and risk mitigation solutions to Fortune/Global 500 and enterprise IT organizations. Leading companies such as Adobe, Cisco, Fidelity, IBM, ING, HP, Microsoft, Visa, SAP, Symantec, VeriSign and government agencies, rely on Security Innovation’s expertise to gain confidence in the security of applications they build and/or acquire, and facilitate the technology, process and management change necessary to mitigate security risk. The company is headquartered in Wilmington, Mass., with offices in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Seattle, Wash. For more information about Security Innovation, visit www.securityinnovation.com or call +1.978.694.1008.