Software Security Requirements

Requirements are like the blueprint of software, setting expectations for how it should function and operate.

Functional Requirements

Functional Requirements in software development specify what the software should do or the functions it should perform.

Here are a few standard functional requirements the DevOps team would have:

• Deployment platform requirements

• Database requirements

• Disaster recovery/business continuity planning (DR/BCP) requirements

• Infrastructure requirements

Example: "The system must allow users to log in using a username and password, and upon successful login, they should have access to their personal account information."

Non-Functional Requirements

Non-Functional Requirements, on the other hand, define how the system should perform its functions. They describe the quality attributes of the system, such as performance, security, scalability, and usability. In the context of security, a non-functional requirement could be:

Example: "The system must encrypt all sensitive user data, such as passwords and financial information, using industry-standard encryption algorithms (e.g., AES-256) to ensure data confidentiality."

Operational and Deployment Requirements

Operational and deployment requirements in software development pertain to the considerations of how software will operate and be deployed within an enterprise environment, where it often coexists with established technology standards, such as specific platforms, operating systems, and infrastructure components.

Use Cases

Use cases are a valuable method for expressing functional requirements in a way that developers and testers can easily understand. They represent specific instances of how the system should behave and are particularly useful for describing complex or unclear interactions with the system, ensuring that both software design and testing adequately address potential issues arising from poorly defined requirements.

Example: In an e-commerce application, a use case might be "User places an order," which describes the step-by-step process of how a user selects products, adds them to the cart, provides shipping information, and completes the purchase. This use case helps clarify the functional requirements for this specific user interaction.