Security Development Lifecycle Whitepaper Available

Microsoft has made publicly available our Security Development Lifecycle
(SDL) paper at http://msdn.microsoft.com/security/sdl. 

The SDL is the process that Microsoft has implemented for the
development of software that needs to withstand malicious attack. The
process encompasses the addition of a series of security-focused
activities and deliverables to each of the phases of Microsoft's
software development process. These activities and deliverables include
the development of threat models during software design, the use of
static analysis code-scanning tools during implementation, and the
conduct of code reviews and security testing during a focused "security
push". Before software developed under the SDL can be released, it must
undergo a Final Security Review by a team independent from its
development group. When compared to software that has not been subject
to the SDL, software that has undergone the SDL has experienced a
significantly reduced rate of external discovery of security
vulnerabilities. This paper describes the SDL and discusses experience
with its implementation across Microsoft software.

Cheers, Michael

[Writing Secure Code] http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/5957.asp
[Protect Your PC] http://www.microsoft.com/protect
[Blog] http://blogs.msdn.com/michael_howard