Main Provisions

Owned by Anna Odrynska
Last updated: Apr 20, 2023
2 min read

  1. All Alpha Serve applications are subject to security assessments based on the following criteria:

  • New Application Release – will be subject to a full assessment prior to the release into the live environment;

  • Planned Releases – will be subject to an appropriate assessment level based on the risk of the changes in the application functionality and/or architecture;

  • Emergency Releases – will be subject to quick assessments and carry the assumed risk until such time that a full assessment can be carried out. Emergency releases will be designated as such by the Chief Executive Officer.

2. All security issues that are discovered during assessments must be mitigated based upon the following risk levels. Remediation validation testing will be required to validate fix and/or mitigation strategies for any discovered issues of Medium risk level or greater.

  • High – Any high-risk issue must be fixed immediately or other mitigation strategies must be put in place to limit exposure before deployment. Applications with high-risk issues are subject to being taken out of a distribution or denied release into the live environment. All relevant parties must be immediately informed about such issues and recommendations must be sent by Alpha Serve if any actions are required from their side.

  • Medium – Medium risk issues should be reviewed to determine what is required to mitigate and scheduled accordingly. Applications with medium risk issues may be taken out of a distribution or denied release into the live environment based on the number of issues and if multiple issues increase the risk to an unacceptable level. Issues should be fixed in a planned release unless other mitigation strategies will limit exposure.

  • Low – Issue should be reviewed to determine what is required to correct the issue and scheduled accordingly.

3. The following security assessment levels shall be established by the Alpha Serve employees and/or contractors performing the assessments. 

  • Full – A full assessment is comprised of tests for major application vulnerabilities using automated and/or manual tools.  A full assessment will use manual penetration testing techniques to validate discovered vulnerabilities to determine the overall risk of any and all discovered.

  • Quick – A quick assessment will consist of a scan of an application for the OWASP Top Ten web application security risks at a minimum.

  • Targeted – A targeted assessment is performed to verify vulnerability remediation changes or new application functionality.

The tools and/or techniques must be selected depending upon what is found in the default assessment and the need to determine validity and risk are subject to the discretion of the Alpha Serve management team.