What defines Software Security Assurance (SSA)?

Software Security Assurance (SSA) focuses on the processes and practices that ensure that software is designed and developed with security as a primary consideration throughout its lifecycle. This encompasses identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities during the design and implementation stages, as well as ensuring that security best practices are integrated into the development process.

By emphasizing security in the design phase, SSA aims to produce software that meets security requirements and can withstand potential threats and attacks. This proactive stance on security is essential in today's environment, where software vulnerabilities can lead to critical security breaches.

While evaluating software performance, ensuring optimal functionality, and monitoring for updates and patches are important aspects of software management and maintenance, they do not specifically relate to the core goal of SSA, which is inherently focused on embedding security into the software design itself.