SECAI Core · phase 12 of 15 · noun
Secure Software Development Life Cycle
A method of system development that incorporates security controls in every phase of the system's lifecycle.
The Explain card
- Plain English
- A Secure SDLC builds security controls into every phase of software development, from requirements through design, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance, instead of bolting them on at the end.
- Example
- An AI team adds threat modelling at design, prompt injection tests in CI, model provenance checks at build, and output monitoring in production, so security is a stage gate rather than a final audit.
- Why it matters
- AI features ship fast and touch untrusted data constantly. A Secure SDLC catches flaws when they are cheap to fix and makes security repeatable instead of heroic.
- Hook
- Security as a lane on the road, not a toll booth at the end.
Word knowledge
How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.
In a sentence
The engineering team used the Secure Software Development Life Cycle to schedule threat modeling before coding and penetration testing before release.
Why these words
- secure Latin securus, free from care modifies the phrase by marking its security focus
- software English compound of soft and ware, coined in the 20th century identifies the product being developed
- development French développer, to unfold or reveal, with the noun suffix -ment names the process at the center of the phrase
- life Old English lif, existence or lifetime frames the process as extending across a duration
- cycle Greek kyklos, circle, through Latin cyclus presents the stages as a recurring sequence
Where it came from
- Origin
- a late 20th-century English technical compound built by adding secure to software development life cycle
- Entered the language
- late 20th century
- What changed
- The established phrase software development life cycle gained secure as a premodifier and was later shortened to SSDLC or secure SDLC.
How it is spelled
- Pattern
- software is written as one closed compound
- Pattern
- development keeps the suffix -ment
- Pattern
- life cycle is normally written as two words
Spelled like
- hardware
- firmware
- deployment
- advancement
Broken into chunks
-
secure
- security
- securely
-
soft-ware
- hardware
- firmware
-
develop-ment
- developmental
- developer
-
life cycle
- lifetime
- cyclical
What it sits beside
Same subject
- threat modeling
- secure coding
- penetration testing
- security requirements
- vulnerability management
Same shape
- software development life cycle
- systems development life cycle
- secure development lifecycle
development phases
- requirements
- design
- implementation
- testing
- deployment
- maintenance
security activities
- threat modeling
- code review
- penetration testing
Where it sits in the deck
Phase 12: Defensive Technologies and Secure Development Practices
Map defences directly to the attacks just catalogued — the technical controls, secure coding practices, and protective tools that harden AI and traditional systems alike.
