OWASP · MITRE ATT&CK · Secure SDLC Assurance

SOFTWARE YOUR
REGULATORS
WON'T
QUESTION.

Independent assurance over how your software is built — not just deployed. Including the governance risks of AI-assisted development in regulated financial environments that most security programmes have not yet addressed.

Aligned with
OWASP SAMMMITRE ATT&CKAI Code Risk
OWASP SAMMMaturity framework
MITRE ATT&CKTechnique coverage
AI Code RiskLLM governance
DevSecOpsPipeline controls
Secure SDLCProcess assurance

The challenge

Applications are
the attack surface.
Build security in early.

Most breaches exploit application-layer vulnerabilities. Security reviews consistently happen too late in the development cycle — after risk is already embedded in production code.

Security reviews arrive too late in the cycle

Application security reviews and penetration tests typically occur near or after deployment — when the cost of remediation is highest and the window for structural improvement has closed. Assurance over the process that builds software is more effective and more cost-efficient than testing the output after the fact.

AI coding tools introduce governance gaps regulators will probe

Developers using AI coding assistants introduce new vulnerability classes, intellectual property risks, and governance gaps into regulated codebases. Few financial institutions have frameworks for AI-assisted code that meet the expectations of regulators, internal audit functions, or operational risk committees.

Engagement models

Two assurance tracks.
One secure development standard.

EONTA delivers secure code assurance across two structured tracks — SDLC governance and AI code risk — each calibrated to your development environment and regulatory context.

Secure SDLC · OWASP SAMM

SDLC Governance Assurance

Structured evaluation of your secure software development lifecycle — design, development, testing, and deployment controls — assessed against OWASP SAMM maturity levels and MITRE ATT&CK technique coverage.

  • Secure SDLC design and control checkpoint review
  • OWASP SAMM maturity level assessment
  • MITRE ATT&CK technique gap mapping
  • DevSecOps toolchain and pipeline controls
  • Open-source component and dependency risk

Process assurance — not just code scanning

OWASP + MITRE dual-framework approach

DevSecOps controls assessed as standard

"Is our secure development process genuinely reducing application risk — or just producing security artefacts?"
AI Code · LLM Governance

AI Code Governance Assessment

Independent evaluation of your AI coding assistant governance — how AI-generated and AI-assisted code is reviewed, tested, and controlled across your regulated development environment.

  • AI coding tool inventory and usage mapping
  • LLM code generation risk classification
  • Review and approval workflow assessment
  • IP and data leakage control evaluation
  • Regulatory compliance gap identification

AI-assisted code governance included as standard

LLM-specific risk framework applied

Regulatory context built in throughout

"Do we know what our developers' AI tools are introducing into our regulated codebase?"

Core capabilities

What we assess.

Each capability evaluates the process that produces software — not just the output — applying OWASP, MITRE, and AI-specific governance frameworks throughout.

Secure SDLC Governance

End-to-end assessment of your software development lifecycle — design security, threat modelling, code review controls, testing adequacy, and deployment gate effectiveness.

OWASP SAMM Maturity Assessment

Structured evaluation of your Software Assurance Maturity Model level across all five business functions — governance, design, implementation, verification, and operations.

MITRE ATT&CK Technique Coverage

Adversary technique mapping against your application security controls — identifying where known attack techniques would succeed against your current development and deployment environment.

AI-Assisted Code Governance

Independent evaluation of Copilot, ChatGPT, and other LLM-based coding tool governance — policy, review workflow, data handling, and compliance controls in regulated environments.

DevSecOps Control Assurance

Pipeline security assessment — build tool integrity, secret management, container security, infrastructure-as-code controls, and deployment gate effectiveness across your CI/CD environment.

Open-Source & Dependency Risk

SBOM validation, licence compliance, known vulnerability assessment, and third-party component governance across your application dependency landscape.

How it works

From code governance
to regulatory confidence.

A structured engagement calibrated to your development environment, tech stack, and regulatory requirements — minimising disruption to engineering teams while delivering audit-grade findings.

Scope

Map development environment, technology stack, AI coding tool usage, and SDLC process boundaries. Define assessment focus areas.

Assess

Evaluate SDLC governance controls, OWASP SAMM maturity, AI code tool usage, and DevSecOps pipeline security.

Test

Apply MITRE ATT&CK technique mapping, dependency risk review, and targeted control effectiveness testing across assessed areas.

Report

Structured findings — SDLC gaps, AI governance deficiencies, OWASP SAMM maturity score, and remediation roadmap.

Why EONTA

Why process assurance
beats code scanning.

Process Assurance — Not Just Code Scanning

Automated code scanning finds known vulnerabilities in existing code. EONTA assesses the process that produces code — whether secure development practices are embedded early enough to prevent vulnerabilities from being written in the first place. Process-level assurance is more durable and more cost-effective.

AI Code Governance Included as Standard

AI coding assistant governance is not an optional add-on in our assessments — it is a standard component, because the regulatory and security risks it introduces are already material and auditable. Most security assessments were designed before AI-assisted coding became standard practice.

OWASP + MITRE Dual-Framework Approach

Our methodology applies both OWASP SAMM maturity scoring and MITRE ATT&CK technique coverage simultaneously — providing a governance maturity view and a threat-realism view of the same development environment. Each alone is insufficient; together they produce actionable, evidence-grade findings.

Who this is for

Built for those
accountable for application security.

EONTA's SCDA services are designed for the governance functions, technical leadership, and risk roles accountable for application security quality, regulatory standing, and development risk.

Primary stakeholders

Chief Information Security OfficersEngineering Leads & CTOsApplication Security TeamsDevSecOps FunctionsInternal Audit FunctionsOperational Risk TeamsCompliance OfficersBoard Technology Committees

Common engagement triggers

New AI coding tool adoption or LLM integration

Engineering teams adopting Copilot, ChatGPT, or other LLM-based coding tools in regulated environments requiring governance framework validation before broader rollout.

Regulatory audit, penetration test finding, or security incident

Organisations requiring independent SDLC assurance following an application security audit finding, penetration test result, or security incident traced to development process gaps.

SDLC transformation, DevSecOps implementation, or platform migration

Institutions undergoing significant development environment change requiring independent validation that security controls are embedded correctly in the new process.

Frequently asked

Questions before
every SCDA engagement.

A penetration test examines the security of a deployed application from the outside — finding vulnerabilities in the running system. EONTA's secure code assurance examines the development process that produces your software: SDLC governance, security control integration, code review practices, dependency management, and the effectiveness of your secure development programme. Both are valuable; they address different risk points.
Our primary focus is process assurance — SDLC governance, control design, and practice maturity — rather than language-specific code review. We assess whether your development practices consistently produce secure outputs, regardless of the technology stack. Where targeted code-level review is in scope, we engage with the specific languages and frameworks in use.
Our AI code governance assessment covers all major coding assistant tools in use — Copilot, ChatGPT Code Interpreter, Claude, and others. We examine: how prompts are structured and reviewed; whether AI-generated code undergoes the same security review as human-authored code; how AI tool usage is governed across developer teams; and whether your SDLC controls have been updated to account for AI-generated code risks including hallucinated dependencies and insecure patterns.
Our secure code assurance framework references OWASP SAMM (Software Assurance Maturity Model), NIST SSDF (Secure Software Development Framework), ISO/IEC 27034, and — where applicable — sector-specific requirements such as PCI DSS Requirement 6 for payment software. The assessment framework is adapted to your specific context, regulatory obligations, and existing maturity.
No specific pre-conditions are required beyond access to development teams and existing process documentation. We have assessed both mature DevSecOps environments and institutions beginning to formalise their secure development programme. The assessment is calibrated to your current state, identifying the highest-value improvements regardless of starting maturity.
Deliverables include: an SDLC maturity assessment against the applicable framework; a security control design and effectiveness report; an AI code governance assessment where in scope; a dependency and supply chain risk evaluation; a remediation priority matrix; and a board-ready summary of findings. For regulated institutions, deliverables are structured to support regulatory technology risk submissions.
Secure code assurance focuses on the software development lifecycle — the process by which your systems are built. Cyber assurance addresses the security controls protecting those systems in operation. Both are distinct but complementary: a secure development programme reduces the vulnerabilities that cyber controls must detect and contain. EONTA can provide coordinated assurance across both domains.
Our primary focus is process assurance — SDLC governance, control design, and practice maturity — rather than line-by-line code review. Where code review is included (for example, as part of AI-generated code governance assessment), it is targeted and scoped specifically. We are not a code review or software testing firm. Our assurance is at the process and governance level — the layer that regulators and internal audit functions are increasingly examining.
Our AI code governance assessment covers all major coding assistant tools in use across your development environment — GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT and GPT-4 API integrations, Claude, Amazon CodeWhisperer, and similar tools. The assessment framework is tool-agnostic and examines the governance, policy, review workflow, and control mechanisms regardless of which specific tools are deployed.
We design SCDA engagements specifically to minimise disruption to engineering teams. The majority of our assessment involves documentation review, process walkthroughs, and interviews with key stakeholders — not continuous presence in development environments. Where observation of development activities is required, it is agreed and scheduled in advance to minimise impact on delivery schedules.
OWASP SAMM scores range from 0 (no formal practice) to 3 (fully mature, optimised practice) across five business functions and fifteen security practices. Most organisations we assess score between 1 and 2 across most domains. The score itself is less important than understanding where you are relative to the maturity level your regulatory context and risk profile require — and what specific improvements would have the most material impact.
Standard deliverables include: an OWASP SAMM maturity assessment with domain-by-domain scoring; a MITRE ATT&CK technique coverage gap report; an AI code governance assessment with specific risk findings; a DevSecOps control assurance report; a dependency and open-source risk summary; and a prioritised remediation roadmap with regulatory context applied throughout.

Take the next step

Do you know what your developers' AI coding tools are introducing into your codebase?

Most regulated institutions don't have a documented answer. An SCDA scoping call takes 45 minutes and produces a clear picture of your exposure.

All scoping conversations are confidential. EONTA does not share engagement details with third parties.