Introduction
In today’s digital age, implementing software security measures is not only crucial but also a time-consuming and expensive process. These measures are often carried out by humans who are susceptible to errors. These mistakes cause security breaches in the software, ultimately causing nasty consequences to the company’s revenue.
As per a report published in 2024, 68% of data breaches were caused by human errors. One of the biggest reasons for these breaches was mistakes while code signing the software. But how can these code-signing errors be circumvented? This article will help you answer these questions.
In this article, we will discuss the top code signing errors that companies and developers must avoid to ensure they ship a secure code and deliver a spotless application on publicly accessible platforms like Apple and Android Play Store.
What is Code Signing, and Why is it Important for Software Security?
In software development and cyber security, code signing is a way/method developers use to digitally sign/confirm/authenticate their application codes and executables. In this process, digital signatures are added using cryptographic techniques, ensuring that changes made after signing the files can be recognized.
Signing the code helps verify the identity of the person who changes the original code after shipment. This mechanism ensures users are using the file they were supposed to use and no modifications were done while shipping or publishing the software.
Code signing is essential because it is a security mechanism that protects the developer and the customers(end-users). It maintains the software integrity, increases trust, and sets distribution guidelines, especially in controlled environments such as publicly accessible app stores.
Suppose the code signing techniques are not adequately implemented. In that case, it is easy for cyber attackers to tamper with code files without anyone knowing, and users can easily fall victim to malware, which could ultimately lead to trust issues with the software products they are using.
Therefore, companies and developers must avoid common code-signing mistakes when digitally signing their software.
Common Code Signing Challenges Companies Face
Code signing is simple, but companies face challenges when implementing it. Software distributors generate a key pair from external trusted authorities during code signing.
These trusted authorities are PKIs, which use CSR (certificate signing request) for verification. Once the requestor gets this signing certificate from CAs, they are ready for code signing, where the code is first hashed using a hashing algorithm, which creates a hash digest.
These processes have challenges, such as key theft problems where the cyber attackers steal private keys associated with the code signing certificates. Another challenge is not having any control over the developer’s visibility during the code signing event, where they usually forget the private keys and certificates on the endpoints or build servers.
This leads to another problem where even signed code can be compromised by hackers. Creating friendly CI/CD pipelines for workflow automation is also a significant problem in code signing. These challenges combine to make the code signing process prone to mistakes.
Top Code Signing Mistakes to Avoid in 2025
Code-signing mistakes are human-interpreted errors or security lapses generally occurring during the code signing process. These mistakes often create a loophole for cyber attackers, who can easily exploit the users.
So, here are some of the top code-signing mistakes you must avoid during the digital signing of software.
Not Renewing the Code-Signing Certificates:
This is perhaps the most common mistake software companies do. Because of the complexity and time involved in the software development, it is easy to forget to renew the code signing certificates.
When the certificates are not renewed, they appear as untrusted, which causes security warnings for users. So, it is essential to keep an eye on expiration dates.
Neglecting the Time-Stamping of Code:
Time stamping plays a significant role in securing the code signing process. If this step is neglected, it can have serious security implications and disrupt software updates.
Giving Less Priority to Integrate Code Signing into the SDLC:
Most developers delay or skip the security-related work and sometimes leave the integration of code signing during their software development lifecycle. Because code modification and cyber-attacks come without any invitation, including the code signing process in the SDLC is crucial.
The code signing process can be integrated into CICD pipelines, ensuring that code signings are taken care of in the development process. Automating the process can also fast-track the code-signing process.
Manually Managing Multiple Code Signing Certificates:
One of the significant code-signing mistakes organizations or developers make is manually managing multiple code-signing certificates. As a developer, managing more than one certificate means you need to manage more private keys.
Keeping track of who and how these private keys are used is challenging and time-consuming. When you cannot manage the keys efficiently, this increases the risk of keys being stolen by attackers.
To solve this code signing mistake, cybersecurity experts recommend that organizations use software tools that manage the certificate automatically. These tools help speed up the management process by automating the entire process, saving you time, cost, and people required to do the task.
Storing Private Keys Locally:
Private keys are crucial in the code-signing process, so keeping them secure is essential. However, developers often leave the private keys stored on their local working computer while generating the code signing certificate. This increases the risk of the keys being stolen by the cyber attackers.
Also, developers forget to implement the key rotation policy and keep using the same keys multiple times. This makes keys vulnerable to attackers, and if they steal these keys, they can use them to falsely sign codes. If this happens, users will get defective software to use, ultimately compromising their data safety.
So, to avoid this mistake, the developer needs to use the hardware security modules with multi-factor authentication, which will limit access to the keys. Also, they need to implement a strong encryption mechanism with robust monitoring methods to detect the wrong signing of code by attackers.
Signing the Malicious Codes:
Another common mistake is signing defective or wrong code files. This is a serious problem because this mistake directly impacts the developer’s accountability for quality checks associated with the code signing process.
When developers sign the code files, they need to ensure that the file they are signing is authentic, free from malware, and up-to-date. This kind of mistake is often made by mistake but can be avoided by simply having an auditing mechanism.
Wrong code files can lead to significant data breaches that hamper the organization’s reputation. Sometimes, this mistake can lead the organization into legal issues, certificate revocation, and trust issues. Therefore, before signing the code, developers must scam the files thoroughly.
Ignoring Code Signing Protocols and Guidelines:
Developing software code requires a lot of effort; therefore, developers mainly focus on software development, whereas code signing guidelines take a back seat and are easily ignored.
Organizations do not focus on the protocols and guidelines specified by publicly available platforms like Play Store during their code-signing process, which leads to code vulnerability. So, it is crucial to stay up-to-date on the guidelines provided by these platforms.
Missing Monitoring and Auditing Process:
Most organizations and developers fail to set up robust monitoring and auditing workflows during the code-signing process, which leads to cyber-attacks. Therefore, many experts suggest that organizations implement a monitoring mechanism during code signing.
Without this, tracking and tracing any unauthorized and suspicious signing in the development environment is hard, leading to data leaks, certificate misuse, and defective code distribution.
Top Tips to Prevent Code Signing Mistakes
Below mentioned are some of the best tips that you should use to prevent code-signing mistakes.
- Scan the code for malwares before you code-sign them.
- Strong cryptographic techniques, such as 3072-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC, must be used.
- Always make sure to secure the private keys.
- Implement two-factor authentication in the code signing process.
- Assure that the time stamp of your code signing is correct.
- Monitor the logging activities by developers.
- Set up the monitoring techniques and dashboards for increased visibility
- Revoking file read and write access from the hacked certificates
- Ensure your CICD pipeline has automated code-signing checks to ensure seamless SDLC processes.
- Timely renewals of expired certificates
- Comparing code signings with previous check-in
- Making developers aware of the potential threat and allowing them enough time to implement code-signing security measures in the code
By following the above best practices, developers and organizations can minimize the risk of code signing errors, ultimately boosting software integrity and trust.
Final Words
Taking security for granted can have major implications, like data breaches. Code signing your software ensures that this kind of event is stopped and the code file you are shipping is trustworthy.
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