Code Audit Report
Code Audit Report
Code Audit
Software Code Audit Services
Persist or rebuild? Understanding the capabilities of your current code base helps you know how to best move your business forward. If you are looking to improve, add new features, or make changes to your code base, get a code audit first. We provide a holistic, objective analysis of the ease with which your code can be enhanced – or if it cannot.
Persist or rebuild? Understanding the capabilities of your current code base helps you know how to best move your business forward. If you are looking to improve, add new features, or make changes to your code base, get a code audit first. We provide a holistic, objective analysis of the ease with which your code can be enhanced – or if it cannot.
Some of Our Happy Clients:
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Clear Vision of What Software Can Achieve
Don’t compound errors – know you’re building on a solid foundation.
Your software is your business: it supports you, your stakeholders, and your clients. Whether you need to know your product is running optimally, can handle upgrades or enhancements, or need to uncover security issues before disaster strikes, our code audit will give you the confidence to move forward decisively.
In our source code audits, we consider the following areas.
Questions Softjourn Can Help You Answer
New developers say your current application is too challenging and needs a rewrite—is that true? Discover the status and potential of your current codebase.
You need to accelerate your beta rollout. Can your current application bear the increased load needed to complete market validation?
Know if your current application can support market must-haves, or if a rewrite is necessary to maintain competitiveness.
Your first goal was to assess the market, not build a long term product. Now your application is difficult to maintain—what’s the most economical path forward?
Can your current product support the market “wants” without significant modifications?
Understand the real lifespan of your current application, its technologies, and more—including what works for now, and what’s needed for the future.
You know you want to implement new features, but is it possible to build or integrate them with your existing code?
From developing an MVP to starting a new iteration — how to build and launch your product in no time.
Understand what architectural improvements are needed for your codebase to remain clean and maintainable.
Need a code audit? No matter the perspective - from security, maintainability, or scalability - we will make sure your code won’t cause problems down the road.
Our 4 Pillars of IT Due Diligence
Product Roadmap: You gain a thorough understanding of how your target or acquisition meets your business and audience needs, now and in the future. This includes tracking, new feature planning, a UI/UX review, and much more.
Technology Assessment: With a head-to-tail analysis, you get valuable insight into areas like architecture scalability, how quickly your team can get started, as well as current security and compliance levels. You also understand embedded problems and what it will take to fix them.
Economies of Scale: With our help, you know where you can get quick wins upon including the new service. One recommendation is merging similar functionalities between platforms, such as payment gateways, access control, or venue mapping/seat picking.
Skills and Processes Review: Depending on the merger or acquisition, we can aid you in understanding who is essential to continuing product development, and ultimately the long-term success of your acquisition. You will also have a thorough understanding of internal processes like sprint planning and QA testing.
You know you must integrate with services to offer competitive functionalities, but integrations can be complicated and time-consuming. Learn what services you can integrate into your existing codebase.
While a platform may been perfect for you at one point, technology quickly changes. Receive all the help you need migrating your code from an outdated platform, to one that is modern, scalable, and well-supported.
Questions Softjourn Can Help You Answer
New developers say your current application is too challenging and needs a rewrite—is that true? Discover the status and potential of your current codebase.
You need to accelerate your beta rollout. Can your current application bear the increased load needed to complete market validation?
Know if your current application can support market must-haves, or if a rewrite is necessary to maintain competitiveness.
Your first goal was to assess the market, not build a long term product. Now your application is difficult to maintain—what’s the most economical path forward?
Can your current product support the market “wants” without significant modifications?
Understand the real lifespan of your current application, its technologies, and more—including what works for now, and what’s needed for the future.
You know you want to implement new features, but is it possible to build or integrate them with your existing code?
From developing an MVP to starting a new iteration — how to build and launch your product in no time.
Understand what architectural improvements are needed for your codebase to remain clean and maintainable.
Need a code audit? No matter the perspective - from security, maintainability, or scalability - we will make sure your code won’t cause problems down the road.
Our 4 Pillars of IT Due Diligence
Product Roadmap: You gain a thorough understanding of how your target or acquisition meets your business and audience needs, now and in the future. This includes tracking, new feature planning, a UI/UX review, and much more.
Technology Assessment: With a head-to-tail analysis, you get valuable insight into areas like architecture scalability, how quickly your team can get started, as well as current security and compliance levels. You also understand embedded problems and what it will take to fix them.
Economies of Scale: With our help, you know where you can get quick wins upon including the new service. One recommendation is merging similar functionalities between platforms, such as payment gateways, access control, or venue mapping/seat picking.
Skills and Processes Review: Depending on the merger or acquisition, we can aid you in understanding who is essential to continuing product development, and ultimately the long-term success of your acquisition. You will also have a thorough understanding of internal processes like sprint planning and QA testing.
You know you must integrate with services to offer competitive functionalities, but integrations can be complicated and time-consuming. Learn what services you can integrate into your existing codebase.
While a platform may been perfect for you at one point, technology quickly changes. Receive all the help you need migrating your code from an outdated platform, to one that is modern, scalable, and well-supported.
A code audit is NOT:
Peer Code Review:
An in-depth code audit is not teammates reviewing each other’s code, looking for individual errors. Our code audit service detects any large-scale system problems within your application.
Debugging:
Our code audit is a technical assessment of your project, identifying problems and giving advice for next best steps. If you want an assessment and resolution for specific software defects or bugs within your code, you want our QA services
When You Need a Code Audit
The true value of a code audit lies in finding out important information about the code. An audit report can shed light on potential integration challenges, code flexibility, the quantity of code from third-party sources, and whether the documentation is updated.
Code Audit for Mergers and Acquisitions
Buyers find value in manual code audits as they provide a good opportunity to analyze their purchases and answer important questions.
Sellers can use a code audit to check whether the codebase adheres to a high standard and is secure.
Consultants find code audits useful to check the state and quality of codebase and better advise third parties.
Code Audit for MVPs
When it is time to move from an MVP to an MMP or pitch your product, conducting a manual code audit is an important step toward ensuring its quality.
The report can provide an assessment of the tech stack and whether it can support future growth.
Periodic Reviews for Ongoing Projects
It is important to double-check the quality of your code to secure a high standard. Spotting the problems in the early stages of development is an easier and less expensive fix in the long term.
Every time a new team takes on a new project, a code review will help them get familiar with the codebase.
Code Audit Case Studies
Code Audit
Babyquip: Can your original codebase support your growing business?
Babyquip, a successful business catering to traveling parents by offering baby equipment rentals, needed to enhance its rapidly growing platform with new functionality and upgrade its tech stack for long-term support.
Technologies:
PHP CakePHP MySQL Stripe API
Code Audit
Case study: Software maintenance is unmanageable—what’s the fix?
Maintenance time and cost for a U.S.-based, healthcare-focused business that supports customers through a mobile ordering system were out of hand. They were also concerned that a lack of consistent maintenance might be leading to security vulnerabilities.
Technologies:
Magento PHP
Code Audit
Case study: Your startup beta has new requirements—can your codebase handle them?
A healthcare startup offering an innovative idea for shift assignments with one beta location was looking to roll out to a second location to continue their market validation. During the market validation, they'd uncovered issues within their solution that needed to be resolved.
Technologies:
iOS Android Web App
Code Audit
Case Study: Can your current codebase support in-demand features for regional expansion?
A UK-based ticketing platform focused on the fine arts space wanted to extend their market reach into North America. They wanted to add features that they knew their audience would expect, such as donations and CRM integration.
Technologies:
Confidential information
Code Rewrite
Superstar: An Unexpected Code Rewrite Reaped Surprising Benefits for a Top-Tier Ticketing Platform
The results of our software code audit showed that there was no need for Superstar to rewrite their code from the ground up. However, we did see that there was a need for them to modernize their framework.
Technologies:
PHP Laravel Apache
The Benefits of a Software Code Audit
Assess Quality and Maintainability
The foremost step of any code review is to document key areas of the code structure and assess its level of maintainability.
Architecture Analysis
Elements marked for assessment are related to frontend and backend, as well as drivers, data planes, certificates, and containers.
Verify Compliance
Our code audit brings valuable insights on compliance with modern development standards, guidelines, and best practices.
Further Software Improvements
With the proper review documentation, our team can provide follow-up engagements and present options for further improvements.
Spot Possible Risks
Our code audit also comes with a series of reviews to address vulnerabilities and risks connected to your code.
Understand Scalability Limits
An audit can help you gain a better understanding of the scalability and flexibility of your code.
Process of Code Audit
We conduct a comprehensive and in-depth code analysis of your source code. Using our reports, you will gain valuable insights into your product in order to make well-informed decisions. Here is how our process works:
Project Code Audit Deliverables
After we conduct our code audit, we present clients with a detailed report and potential code issues. The report includes both critical and non-critical issues as well as recommendations on managing issues based on the client’s priorities. When necessary, we can involve a project manager in the software auditing process so you can receive detailed explanations of individual issues.
Depending on the project requirements, the report can include:
- Software code analysis
- Third-party integrations audit
- Architecture analysis
- Security audit
- Automation tests audit and pentest review
- Design review
Engagement Models
Other Services We Offer
Whether upgrading/reviewing an existing code or creating a new one, the most important expertise we offer is a proven approach to mitigating risk and containing costs. Discover more about Softjourn's expert Consulting Services.
Often clients don’t know what product they need, but do know the results they want. Our job is to help define the product and develop optimal solutions to get those results. Learn more about Softjourn's Discovery Phase Services.
To compete, our clients continually need to provide new and better services. We have our own R&D Centers – started in 2008 – which uniquely positions us to do just that. Read more about Softjourn's Research and Development Services.
Our developers and illustrators are experts at UI and UX design. They will work with you to understand your needs in going from idea to prototype to deployment faster and at less cost. Explore further into Softjourn's Digital Product Design Services.
Software development has grown exponentially in recent decades. Softjourn is the solution to help you define and develop forward-thinking technology that gets real-world results. Get to know more about Softjourn's Software Engineering Services.
Our core belief is that analyzing and testing is critical because the essential role of software is so important. In the process, our Quality Assurance team helps you create superior products. Explore further into Softjourn's QA services.
Since day one, we’ve been providing application support and maintenance services to each customer on every project. It’s why we’re a proven, trusted partner and reliable asset. Get to know more about Softjourn's Application Support and Maintenance Services.
Our technology stack at Softjourn is designed to empower us to deliver world-class services to our clients. With a strong focus on innovation and efficiency, we continually adapt our expertise to stay ahead of the curve. Discover the Technologies and Frameworks we utilize, and learn how we can bring your ideas to life.
Our Insights
Expert Insights: Do I Need a Full Code Rewrite When Experiencing Legacy Application Issues?
Maximizing Effectiveness: Best Practices for Conducting Code Audits
Benefits of Code Audits in Software Development
Understanding the Importance of Code Audits: An Introduction to Code Audits
Common Issues Found in Code Audits: A Comprehensive Guide
Code Audit FAQ
Conducting a code audit is crucial when you have an antiquated product that is soon to be outdated. There are two potential approaches for conducting a code audit; you can either hire a third-party provider to perform the audit or let an in-house team of developers handle it.
Code audits have several distinct phases that are the basis of each review:
- Phase 1: Analyze the present project structure and functionality.
- Phase 2: Discover existing and potential bugs.
- Phase 3: Determine security breaches and vulnerabilities.
- Phase 4: Validate the current performance and scalability.
- Phase 5: Assess the code maintainability level and associated risks and costs.
There are three main factors that determine how long a code audit will take: the size of the project, the number of third-party services, and the software аrchitecture. Depending on the project's complexity, a code audit could take 4 to 9 working days for a smaller project, and up to 1 working month for enterprise-sized projects. We can provide a clear estimate of the cost and schedule of an audit after we assess your project.
While open source is a crucial component to most modern software development, many companies ignore license and security risks in their code and should increase their awareness of the open source they're utilizing.
How can a company ensure compliance with open source license obligations, including those associated with code acquired from third parties? Typically, companies need firm policies regarding open source use and processes for selecting, approving, and tracking it.
If your business is built around open source software, is it important to get ahead of the potential risks. The best way to do this is by auditing the open source-based parts of your software stack which can guide your company’s open source policies.
Additionally, having a clear understanding of how the software works and controlling the level of reliance your company has on the software will help mitigate risks down the road as well..
Our recommendation to most companies who rely on open source is to have the crucial parts of their software stack audited, so they will be prepared for challenges. This way, they will not be caught off guard if something goes wrong, which has potential to put their business in jeopardy.
How our process looks:
- A Code Audit is Requested
- MNDA Signing
- Introduction Interview
- Grant Code Repository Access
- Audit Process
- Review of the infrastructure
- Assessment of the architecture
- Backend audit
- Frontend audit
- We provide you with a Code Audit Report & Recommendations Delivery
- Additionally, we can guide your team or assemble a dedicated team to fix any issues found [optional].
The most common code audit techniques include a manual review and an automated source code analysis.
- A manual code audit identifies vulnerabilities as well as functional flaws. Most companies have trouble internally providing the skilled technicians, security resources, and amount of time required for a manual code review. This is why companies frequently decide to hire an independent third-party to manually audit their code. Plus, hiring externally guarantees an unbiased audit. A manual code audit is carried out in three stages: a review of the infrastructure and the architecture, a backend code review, and a frontend code review.
- Automated source code analysis makes the manual code audit process more efficient, affordable, and quickly achievable. This method of code audit results in a significant reduction in time required, while providing considerable cost savings and actionable metrics. Popular automated code review tools are Github, Gitlab, Bitbucket, Crucible, Phabricator, Gerrit, Collaborator, and Visual Assist.
There are multiple situations and company types that might require a code audit, including:
1. Startups
If you have legacy code that’s bootstrapped an MVP or pieced code together by multiple teams over time, it’s important to get a holistic view of your code base in a report that any founder can clearly understand. A code audit will help you:
- Determine code quality
- Check for scalability
- Highlight vulnerabilities
- Find bugs before users do
2. M&A Tech Due Diligence
When evaluating startups for investments, investors must have a transparent view of their existing code and its current state with proper technical due diligence. During the acquisition of a software company or the intellectual property (IP) belonging to a company, it is essential that products containing open-source code are identified. A code audit will ensure:
- Transparency for investors
- Easy to understand reports
- Verification of the functionality of existing apps
- Checks for scalability
3. Periodic Reviews for Ongoing Projects
Every time a new team takes on a new project, a code review will help them get familiar with the codebase. New teams will get onboarded faster with less confusion, meaning projects get off the ground with greater speed and higher quality.
4. Verifying Outsourcing Code Services
If you subcontract software development from a third-party developer, you might request assurances or a guarantee that your codebase will not contain any open-source code. It is essential to conduct an open-source code audit to verify that the outsourcing company is compliant. A code audit will also confirm the quality of the code by an unbiased third party.
A software code audit is an essential part of development, and is especially necessary to perform before making any large changes or adding new features to an application.
A code audit is a process that aims to find and eliminate any errors, bugs, security breaches, licensing violations, and areas that fail to reach the required quality standards set by the company. When performing audits, every critical component should be audited separately and together with the entire system.
A quality code audit can be the difference between having high-performing, functional, and easy-to-maintain code and having buggy code prone to having security issues and poor functionality.
Yes, a code audit or review is considered to be the first stage of technical due diligence in the M&A process. A code review is focused on checking tech architecture and the solution regarding the interface, integrations, and code.
One of our clients bypassed technical due diligence in order to quickly complete a software acquisition. In order to make a smooth integration happen with the software they acquired, Softjourn’s team provided an in-depth integration definition period and code review.
During this time, our engineers dedicated themselves to analyzing the code bases of the acquired software to create recommendations about the integration, as well as upgrades and changes needed for the client, based on their current and long-term goals.
Our review included comprehensive recommendations for a variety of integration options, highlighting the costs and speed of delivery of each.
Both independent and in-house code audits have their unique advantages and drawbacks. Here is a comparison between the two:
Objectivity: Independent code audits offer an unbiased, third-party perspective, whereas internal biases or organizational pressures can influence in-house audits.
Expertise: Independent code audit companies typically employ professionals with a wide range of industry experience and expertise. On the other hand, in-house audits may be limited by your internal team's expertise.
Time and Resources: In-house audits may save on external costs, but they can consume valuable internal resources and time that could otherwise be spent on core development tasks. Independent code audit companies, by contrast, provide a dedicated team for the audit, freeing up your resources.
Knowledge Transfer: Сompanies offering independent code audit services bring fresh insights and best practices from their work across multiple industries, whereas in-house audits may focus more on existing company practices.
Scalability: Third-party code audit companies can quickly scale their services according to the size and complexity of your project. At the same time, in-house teams may face resource constraints and struggle to accommodate larger projects.
In conclusion, choosing between an independent code audit company and an in-house software code audit depends on your organization's needs, resources, and objectives. Engaging an independent code audit company offers the benefits of unbiased evaluation, diverse expertise, and scalability. In contrast, an in-house audit may be more cost-effective and aligned with your existing practices.
We were encouraged because Softjourn asked the right questions and involved people with the right experience in the conversations.
Toffer Grant
Founder at PEX
Founder at PEX
Softjourn helped us manage our growth. We were growing 30% year over year. Softjourn had a key area of expertise to provide us tactical help.
Marc Mazzariol
VP of Product at SecuTix
VP of Product at SecuTix