Often, organisations end up with a “bolt-on” approach to their cyber strategy – deploying new defences ad hoc without understanding how they’ll integrate into the wider environment. This leads to a sprawling toolbox of cyber defences, which slows down security teams and can hamper their response to potential threats. In fast-growing environments, where new infrastructures and applications are widening the attack surface and further impeding the speed of response, there’s a law of diminishing returns for simply adding new tools to address the reality.
A more resilient approach is to adhere to the principle of security by design. We’ve touched on it throughout our security architecture series – as a cornerstone of security architecture, a vital consideration for governance, an applicable standard across different domains, a benefit of our Security Architecture-as-a-Service offering, and a core part of our approach. Now, in this entry, we’ll be outlining how you can embed these practices across your organisation as part of a unified, practical cyber strategy.
What security by design means
Security by design means integrating defence into the planning and delivery of systems from day one – ensuring that they’ve been built with a security-first outlook. It applies across the full lifecycle: from planning, to deployment, and into ongoing operations. The goal is to reduce vulnerabilities before they reach production, and to ensure cyber defences remain effective as services evolve.
This contrasts with more reactive approaches to security, where controls are added near the end of a project to satisfy a deadline, prepare for a compliance requirement, or simply because a new risk has elevated fear levels. In those scenarios, teams often face reworks, delays, and difficult compromises, which can cause security to come at the cost of other critical business objectives. Over time, this approach leads to inconsistencies in cyber defences, leaving gaps that attackers can exploit.
Security by design addresses this – by making cyber strategy a constant through every new application or infrastructure update, new capabilities can be built with existing cyber defences in mind, helping to rationalise the tools in your security stack. It also makes it straightforward to adhere to other key principles of effective security architecture, including a zero-trust approach to identity and access. Over time, these patterns help teams move faster, embedding security as part of everyday operations, rather than treating it as an additional hurdle.
Why security by design matters
Adopting the principles of security by design unlocks a more proactive cyber strategy – rather than responding to vulnerabilities as they’re exposed, new developments align with your security architecture. Common issues, like overly broad access permissions, misconfiguration, or monitoring blind spots – get addressed ahead of time, if they even crop up at all.
In a reactive approach, where these issues make it into production environments, remediation isn’t just disruptive, placing intense pressure on security teams, but often brings further expense to transformational projects. Applications require redesigning, deadlines need to be postponed for emergency changes, and, in some cases, the environment needs to be restored from earlier backups to avoid potential risks.
The benefits of a secure-by-design approach have given it significant momentum – especially in the public sector. Security by design is a core pillar of the UK government’s cyber security standard, with adherence to these principles being an essential part of the framework. It’s not hard to see why – in a high-stakes environment, with applications that store and process sensitive information, security by design mitigates the risk of cybercriminals gaining access.
Security by design also strengthens governance and compliance – with consistent, well-planned controls in place across IT environments, meeting regulatory requirements becomes much simpler. Plus, in the event of an audit, since all systems are part of a unified security architecture, finding the right documentation to demonstrate compliance is straightforward. This frees up valuable time for IT and security teams, who can approach compliance with confidence, rather than having to scramble and collect evidence of security when the time comes.
How we help you deliver
Adopting security by design is not just a matter of intent. It needs to be translated into practical decisions, repeatable patterns of behaviour, and a robust security architecture that can be applied across new and existing services. That is where a dedicated security architect plays a central role: bringing consistency to design choices, aligning delivery to frameworks and obligations, and ensuring cyber defences support the way the business actually operates.
Our team, working as part of a Security Architect-as-a-Service engagement, works with your teams – from security to application development – to embed the principles of security by design across your environment. We help you define requirements early, validate designs, and reduce gaps between what is expected in policy and what is implemented in practice, ensuring a consistent, unified approach. We also help rationalise cyber defences by aligning new capabilities with what is already in place, reducing duplication and avoiding tool sprawl that can slow responses and complicate day-to-day security operations.
Our flexible model makes that expertise easy to access, and in a way that suits the overarching needs of your business. Whether you need short-term input to implement security by design for a new project, or an ongoing partnership to develop your cyber strategy, our expertise is at your disposal.
Getting started with security by design
Embedding security design across your environment can seem a daunting task – especially if you’ve already grown into a broad suite of cyber defences through a bolt-on approach. But with the right expertise at your side, developing your cyber strategy can be straightforward, and adopting security by design makes it easier to iterate and improve on your defences often working with the tools already at your disposal.
Security by design works best when it’s translated into clear, repeatable decisions that teams can apply day to day. If you’d like a pragmatic view of where to start, what to prioritise, and how to reduce tools and complexity while strengthening your security architecture, we’re ready to help. Contact us to arrange an initial conversation and see how Security Architect-as-a-Service can support your plans.
