The answer is yes. But does this answer apply to every vendor to whom enterprises outsource software development services? The answer is no.
In the wake of random instances of data security breaches, enterprises understandably have inhibitions in sharing their data with third-party vendors. However, that should not stop enterprises from reaping the benefits of partnering with expert custom software development services providers. Here’s a look at how enterprises can ensure that a custom software development company ensures the utmost data integrity.
What are the Certifications and Regulations that a Custom Software Development Company Must Comply with?
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
According to the ISO standards, a vendor must implement a record management system, effective documentation, a robust security policy framework, and efficient process control. These protocols establish the vendor’s ability to maintain data integrity and prevent its exposure to unauthorized users.
Vendors with the ISO/IEC 27001 certification prove that their external and internal processes and departments have successfully passed audit tests. It ensures that they can provide the highest quality of services while maintaining data security at the highest level.
Partnering with an ISO-certified custom software development company allows an enterprise to guarantee their customer’s and stakeholders’ information security. It significantly reduces the chances of data security breaches and ensures robust data management.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The emergence of GDPR enforced stricter guidelines required to adhere to while collecting, using, sharing, and storing data. According to the GDPR guidelines, enterprises must know the type and quantity of personal data their outsourcing provider will handle. They must keep track of every bit of data they share with the third-party service provider.
The third-party provider must recognize every individual within its team who will access confidential data. Such individuals should be made to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
GDPR guidelines stress that enterprises must have an idea about how the third-party vendors are storing data and the storage duration. They must also know if the data is stored in a server within the European Union or other regions.
In case of a data breach incident, outsourcing providers should immediately furnish a list of the affected users to notify them about the incident.
Things to Consider While Partnering with a Custom Software Development Company to Ensure Data Integrity
Here’s a checklist of parameters that enterprises must consider while partnering with a custom software development services provider who can assure data security.
Cybersecurity Protocol
It is vital to check the outsourcing partner’s frequency of conducting penetration testing. Penetration testing involves simulating a cyber threat in a computer to assess the system’s capability to stand against such threats. Enterprises must conduct a deep-dive analysis of their outsourcing partner’s IT infrastructure to understand its capability to withstand data security threats.
Data Disaster Management
An outsourcing provider should have a robust data incident response framework ready. Enterprises must have clear insights into actions that their outsourcing partner plans to take to tackle security incidents such as web shell attacks, loss of backup data, insider data threats, among others.
Information Security Best Practices
Enterprises must outsource software development services only to vendors who use a secure VPN connection. It provides end-to-end encryption of data, including source codes, team conversations, confidential records, and personally identifiable information.
Once vendors access their client’s data, they must direct their team to use a strong password to authenticate their usage. Such a password should be a combination of a haphazard sequence of numbers, alphabets, and symbols and should have at least eight characters.
Outsourcing vendors must safeguard data stored both on-premises and cloud and external data centers. It is done by providing physical protection to hard disks, servers, and other portable devices.
Conclusion
An ideal outsourcing vendor will operate on the CIA model- confidentiality, integrity, and availability to ensure data security for its clients. Confidentiality ensures data protection from unauthorized users. Integrity ensures that the data transmitted during the contract lifecycle is authentic and is free from tampering. Availability ensures the ready availability of data to users at the time of need.
