Secure your Source Code: The advantages of RDEs to protect your IP

How is the source code normally saved?

Normally, the source code is stored on the devices of the developers’ and saved in a version control system. For local development, the source code is saved directly on the laptop. Of course, because developers must be able to access it and work with it. To make the code generally available and to sync changes, it’s uploaded or downloaded to a repository via a version control system such as git.

That means: the source code is stored in a place that is easy to attack and poses security risks.

But how big is the problem actually? In fact, Gartner writes that a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds. On average, a stolen laptop costs a company more than $47,000. IT professionals were surveyed about laptop theft: 86% of them report that a laptop has already been stolen or lost in their company. For 56% of respondents, this resulted in a data breach.

The Federal Ministry of Finance and the A-SIT Centre for Secure Information Technology describe general measures to be taken after a theft:

• If possible, locate the laptop
• remotely lock the laptop or delete data
• Cancel synchronisations and change passwords
• Report to authorities and insurance

In a corporate context, we add:

• Report the loss to the company
• Inform IT immediately
• Inform contacts

Uncertainties still remain: How quickly can the system be accessed? Is the password secure enough? Will the source code be leaked? Can sensitive data be found within the code?

The best option would therefore be for the source code not to be on the laptop at all. Remote development environments make this possible.

How is the source code stored with Cloudomation Remote Development Environments?

Unlike other RDEs / CDEs, with Cloudomation DevStack you also have the option of not storing the source code locally but, for example, on-premise in the company’s infrastructure. The risk of theft or loss is completely eliminated.

There are further advantages:

• RDEs are centrally managed. This means that granular access control and authorisation allocation is possible.
• Security updates can be applied immediately to all workstations and do not have to be provided individually for each developer.

Read more: 5 advantages of Remote Development Environments

The protection against theft and loss and all the benefits also apply to test data and when testing with real and PII data.

Test Cloudomation DevStack now and protect the company’s source code with remote development environments from theft.