An Evaluation of the Product Security Maturity Model Through Case Studies at 15 Software Producing Organizations

Abstract

Cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important from a software business perspective. The software that is produced and sold generally becomes part of a complex landscape of customer applications and enlarges the risk that customer organizations take. Increasingly, software producing organizations are realizing that they are on the front lines of the cybersecurity battles. Maintaining security in a software product and software production process directly influences the livelihood of a software business. There are many models for evaluating security of software products. The product security maturity model is commonly used in the industry but has not received academic recognition. In this paper we report on the evaluation of the product security maturity model on usefulness, applicability, and effectiveness. The evaluation has been performed through 15 case studies. We find that the model, though rudimentary, serves medium to large organizations well and that the model is not so applicable within smaller organizations.