Secure SDLC Review Guide

What It Is

The review looks at how your development team currently approaches security across planning, design, coding, testing, release, and ongoing maintenance. Scope is confirmed in writing before work begins. Depending on the service selected, this can include examination of threat modelling or design review practices, code review processes, use of security testing tools, dependency management, secrets handling, release approval workflows, production access controls, incident readiness, and how security knowledge is shared across the team. The work is designed to assess evidence and observe working practices, not to audit individual developers or disrupt delivery timelines. You receive a structured report that explains what appears to be working, where gaps or inconsistencies were observed, and what a proportionate next step could be. Observations are organised so that technical and non-technical stakeholders can understand the difference between a priority improvement, a reasonable next investment, and a concern that may require specialist input or a separate engagement.

Who It Is For

A Secure SDLC Review suits businesses that:

• Employ an internal or contracted development team and have not yet had a formal review of how security is considered during software delivery
• Have recently expanded the development team, changed delivery practices, moved to a new platform, or adopted new tools and want to check that security practices have kept pace
• Are preparing for enterprise sales, a compliance process, or a larger customer engagement that expects evidence of secure development discipline
• Need to respond thoughtfully to a question about secure development practices from an auditor, investor, customer, or board without overstating the current position

What It Helps Clarify

A Secure SDLC review helps clarify:

• Which security practices appear to be in place during design, coding, testing, and release, and where the evidence is incomplete or the process needs clearer ownership
• Where reliance on individual knowledge, informal communication, or undocumented habits may leave security decisions inconsistent or invisible to new team members
• Which tools, checkpoints, or approval steps are being used effectively and which ones are creating noise, delay, or false confidence
• What to address within the current team, what requires training or clearer guidance, and what should be discussed as a separately scoped technical or organisational change

What's Included

• Written scope confirmation before work begins, including the team structure, delivery practices, and evidence sources to be reviewed
• Examination of agreed development practices through documentation review, team interviews, and observation of working artefacts where appropriate
• A structured findings report with practical observations, ranked by relevance and feasibility, not just theoretical severity
• Plain-language explanation of each observation with context for both technical and non-technical decision-makers
• A management summary that can be shared internally to inform planning, hiring, training, or tooling decisions
• One follow-up conversation to discuss findings, priorities, and realistic next steps

What's Not Included

• Full application penetration testing, infrastructure review, or active exploitation unless separately scoped
• Compliance certification, audit opinion, or a statement that the business meets every applicable development standard
• Process redesign, tooling implementation, or team training during the review itself
• Ongoing monitoring, continuous assessment, or retesting after the agreed engagement closes
• Review of teams, repositories, systems, or delivery pipelines that are not included in the written scope

When to Choose It

Choose a Secure SDLC Review when you want a clear, evidence-based view of how your development team approaches security today, before committing to a specific tooling investment, training programme, or process change. It is a useful step when the team has grown, delivery practices have changed, or a stakeholder has asked a reasonable question about secure development that cannot yet be answered with confidence. It can also help before an audit, a customer security review, or an internal planning cycle where development capability will be discussed. When you already know the precise technical or process issue and need focused implementation, a scoped improvement project is usually the better fit. The value of the review is its ability to make the next investment more deliberate and more likely to address the real constraint.

Our Approach

We begin by confirming the review boundary and evidence approach in writing. You receive a plain-language brief that explains which teams, repositories, practices, and artefacts will be examined, what access or discussion is needed, and what you will receive at handoff. The practitioner works with the information and access provided, and where the available evidence leaves a question open, the report records it clearly so it can be followed up. Observations are written as practical assessments: the practice observed, the context in which it may matter, and a proportionate recommendation or next question. The report is intended to support a constructive conversation between technical leadership, product owners, and executive stakeholders about which improvements to resource and when. At handoff, we review priorities with you so that the document can inform realistic planning rather than become a list that is difficult to prioritise or act on.

Frequently Asked Questions

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