Security Requirements

Specific, actionable requirements that outline what needs to be implemented to protect software from potential threats, vulnerabilities, and risks.

SECURE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES

The Importance of Secure Development in Protecting Customer Data

When software security is treated as an afterthought, rather than a vital step in the development process, it can lead to vulnerabilities in production, putting customer data at risk.

Security Requirements
Manual Processes

Manually gathering security requirements and addressing weaknesses can take weeks to
months.

Security Requirements
Increased risk of breach

Manual security tasks increase vulnerability risks in production, causing breaches and compliance issues, which erode customer trust.

Security Requirements
Application security is a bottleneck

Slow, unscalable security methods delay software launch, harming competitiveness and reducing revenue for organizations.

Define the security and compliance requirements that guide developers and AI agents

discover

Identify Security Requirements

Based on the attributes of the project/
software (e.g., programming languages, architectures, etc.)

Based on the attributes of the project/software (e.g., programming languages, architectures, etc.)

govern

Map Requirements to
Standards & Frameworks

Align generated requirements to industry standards like OWASP ASVS, PCI DSS, ISO
27001, NIST 800-5

Align generated requirements to industry standards like OWASP ASVS, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, NIST 800-5
practical

Prescribe Security
Controls

Specific technical guidance or controls that can be implemented to fulfill requirements
Specific technical guidance or controls that can be implemented to fulfill requirements
Security Requirements

Development
Workflow Integration

Deliver security requirements directly into development workflows and issue tracking systems
Deliver security requirements directly into development workflows and issue tracking systems
scalability

Scalability and
Automation

Automate the generation and delivery of requirements for a large number of applications or projects, ensuring consistency across the organization

Automate the generation and delivery of requirements for a large number of applications or projects, ensuring consistency across the organization

testing

Support Compliance
and Audits

Maintain traceability of security requirements to ensure alignment with security policies and regulatory frameworks

Maintain traceability of security requirements to ensure alignment with security policies and regulatory frameworks

Security Requirements

Johnson Controls Accelerates Product Security With
SD Elements

Johnson Controls, a well-known brand in the smart building space, takes a proactive approach to cybersecurity with SD Elements to ensure their systems are protected.

Identify Potential Threats and Generate Security Requirements

Testimonials

Here’s what some of our clients have to say

johnson controls logo
quotation mark icon
“SD Elements is quite unique. It is exactly what we needed to expedite and enable our teams’ efforts in releasing secure products.”
Brian PItts testimonial

Brian Pitts

Product Security Governance, Architecture & Risk Management,
Johnson Controls

finra logo
quotation mark icon
“SD Elements enables FINRA to quickly and accurately identify threats and countermeasures in the applications that power our business – at the speed of DevOps.”
jeremy ferragamo testimonial

Jeremy Ferragamo

Director of Cyber & Information Security, FINRA
 

Cubic logo
quotation mark icon
“We needed something to improve cyber-resilience and found that SD Elements was the best solution”
Security compass testimonials

Konrad Fellmann

Vice President and CISO,
Cubic

Security Requirements FAQs

Get answers to common questions about defining, managing, and scaling security requirements in modern software development.

Security requirements are specific guidelines and controls that ensure applications are designed and built to protect against vulnerabilities and threats. They define what must be implemented to meet security, compliance, and risk management goals throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
Security requirements help teams identify and address risks early in development, reducing vulnerabilities and avoiding costly fixes later. By embedding security into design and development workflows, organizations can build secure, compliant applications more efficiently.
Security requirements are typically defined based on application architecture, risk level, and compliance needs. Modern approaches use threat modeling and automated tools to generate requirements tailored to each application’s specific context.

Security requirements define what needs to be implemented, while security controls define how those requirements are enforced. Together, they ensure that applications meet security standards and reduce risk.

Security requirements can be automated using tools that generate them based on application design, architecture, and risk factors. These tools help standardize requirements and ensure consistency across development teams and projects.
Examples include input validation, authentication and authorization controls, encryption of sensitive data, secure API communication, and logging and monitoring requirements. These vary depending on the application and its risk profile.
SD Elements is a platform by Security Compass that generates, manages, and validates security requirements based on your application architecture. It helps teams embed security directly into development workflows and scale secure-by-design practices.
SD Elements is designed for security teams, developers, architects, and compliance stakeholders who need to define and enforce security requirements consistently across applications and teams.
SD Elements automatically generates requirements based on project context, maps them to industry standards, and integrates with development tools. This ensures requirements are actionable, traceable, and consistently applied.
SD Elements provides traceability between requirements, implementation, and validation, helping organizations demonstrate compliance with standards such as OWASP, NIST, and PCI DSS through audit-ready evidence.
Yes. SD Elements integrates with development environments, CI/CD pipelines, and security tools, allowing teams to embed security requirements directly into their existing workflows without disruption.
Unlike tools that only detect issues after code is written, SD Elements focuses on defining and enforcing security requirements early in the development process, helping prevent vulnerabilities rather than just identifying them.

Additional Resources

Ready to see SD Elements in action?

Set up a meeting with one of our security experts to see a demo of SD Elements