Abeysekera, I. (2026). Accounting for secure software development: Status, trends and business focus: A scoping study. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30811097

AbstractSecure software development is vital from both the developer and business perspectives. Although researchers have conducted studies examining specific aspects, no study has examined the overall status of, trends in and business focus regarding secure software development—a gap this study aims to fill. This study searched digital databases and identified 138 abstracts and 95 full articles. It conducted a scoping study and utilised NVivo software to generate themes, first from abstracts and then from source documents. It then analysed the top 25 themes to identify the current status of and trends in secure software development. The study then investigated the status of and trends in the business focus using the keyword ‘business’ alone. Results show a preponderance of themes that matched across the abstract and document analyses, with the most commonly discussed themes activities or processes related to secure software development. Although not present in the abstracts, source document analysis identified cybersecurity as one of the top 25 themes. There was minimal discussion on business focus, although it showed an upward trend over the project period. Journal articles and conference papers shared similar themes of significance; the book chapter themes differed, with cybersecurity the most frequently discussed theme.

【摘要】 从开发者与商业双重视角来看，安全软件开发均具有至关重要的意义。尽管已有学者针对安全软件开发的特定维度开展了相关研究，但目前尚无研究全面审视安全软件开发的整体现状、发展趋势及商业关注点——本研究旨在填补这一研究空白。本研究通过检索数字学术数据库，共筛选得到138篇摘要与95篇完整学术论文。本研究采用范围研究（scoping study）方法，并借助NVivo质性分析软件开展主题编码：首先基于摘要文本提取主题，随后针对原始文献展开主题分析。随后，本研究针对排名前25的主题展开分析，以明确安全软件开发的整体现状与发展趋势。本研究进而仅以关键词‘商业（business）’为切入点，探究安全软件开发领域商业关注点的现状及演变趋势。研究结果显示，摘要分析与完整文献分析的匹配主题占多数，其中讨论最为频繁的主题均围绕与安全软件开发相关的活动或流程展开。尽管摘要分析未涉及网络安全主题，但完整文献分析将网络安全列为前25大主题之一。尽管商业关注点的相关讨论在本研究的调研周期内呈现上升趋势，但目前相关研究对此的探讨仍较为匮乏。期刊论文与会议论文的核心主题分布较为相似；而图书章节的主题分布则存在差异，其中网络安全是其讨论最频繁的主题。