Software Code Audit Services

Conducting a code audit is crucial when you have an antiquated product that is soon to be outdated.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 an IT audit company or let an in-house team of developers handle it. Either way, a code audit expert will help guide you through the process.

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 code auditing 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 1 to 4 weeks for a smaller project, and up to 6 months for an enterprise-sized architecture assessment. We can provide a clear estimate of the cost and schedule of IT audit services after we assess your project.

While open source is a crucial component of 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. A thorough open source software audit is essential to uncover these risks. 

 How our process looks:

1. A Code Audit is Requested
2. MNDA Signing
3. Introduction Interview
4. Grant Code Repository Access
5. Audit Process
1. Review of the infrastructure
2. Assessment of the architecture
3. Backend audit
4. Frontend audit
6. We provide you with a Code Audit Report, Recommendations Delivery, and other audit deliverables
7. Additionally, we can guide your team or assemble a dedicated team to fix any issues found.

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 a code audit expert, security resources, and the amount of time required for a manual code review. This is why we typically recommend hiring an independent third-party to manually audit the code rather than conduct your own internal audit. 

Plus, hiring software auditors 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, and Crucible.

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.

Both independent and in-house code audits have their unique advantages and drawbacks. Here is a comparison between the two:

Objectivity: Independent code audit services offer an unbiased, third-party perspective, whereas internal biases or organizational pressures can influence in-house audits.

Expertise: Independent code audit service 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 service 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

Deciding between a code audit and an architecture assessment depends on your specific needs and goals. Here's a breakdown of the pros and cons of each to help you make an informed decision:

• Code Audit:

Pros:

• Short timeline
• Fewer resources needed
• Allows for identifying major issues

Cons:

• Potential to miss some issues
• Limited scope
• Does not assess the system as a whole
• Can't evaluate system quality attributes (e.g., scalability, security)

• Architecture Assessment:

Pros:

• Brings the most value due to its holistic analysis
• Covers the most aspects of the system
• Allows for targeted improvements

Cons:

• Complexity
• Time-consuming
• Resource-intensive

Choose a code audit for a quick assessment of code-related issues, but be aware of its limitations in evaluating the entire system.

Opt for an architecture assessment to gain a comprehensive view of system aspects, including design, scalability, and security, despite requiring more time and resources. Your decision should align with your specific needs and priorities.