Code Reviews & Secure Software Development

We review your code and build the secure development practices that find vulnerabilities before attackers, customers or acquirers do.

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Who this is for

This service fits teams whose software is the product, or the thing the product depends on.

  • You sell software to federal agencies or regulated enterprises and must attest to secure development practices, including the NIST SSDF.
  • You are preparing for a penetration test, SOC 2 examination or ISO/IEC 27001 audit and want the code reviewed first.
  • An acquirer or investor has asked for evidence of how your software is built, reviewed and released.
  • You inherited a codebase, or integrated a large body of outsourced code, and do not know what risk it carries.
  • You have a security tool backlog with thousands of findings and no way to tell which ones matter.

What's included

Scope is set per engagement. These are the building blocks we combine.

  • Manual secure code review

    Reviewers read the code that handles authentication, authorization, input, cryptography and sensitive data, because that is where automated tools miss the most.

  • Automated analysis

    We run static analysis, software composition analysis and secrets scanning with industry-standard tooling, then triage the output so you receive findings, not noise.

  • Threat modelling

    We model your architecture and data flows to identify abuse cases and focus review on the components an attacker would target.

  • Dependency and supply chain review

    We examine third-party libraries, build pipelines and artifact signing, and produce a software bill of materials where you lack one.

  • CI/CD pipeline review

    We assess source control settings, branch protection, secrets handling, build isolation and release approvals.

  • SSDF gap assessment

    We map your current practices to NIST SP 800-218 and identify what you need to attest to secure software development.

  • Secure SDLC program design

    We write the standards, review checklists and developer guidance that make secure practice repeatable.

  • Developer enablement

    We walk your engineers through each finding class so the same defect does not return in the next release.

How an engagement works

Engagements are sized to the codebase and the outcome you need. A single application review typically runs 4 to 8 weeks end to end.

  1. Scoping and architecture review

    We agree repositories, languages, environments and success criteria, and we review architecture documents and data flows.

    Typically 1 week

  2. Threat modelling

    We identify trust boundaries, entry points and abuse cases, and rank the components that deserve the deepest manual attention.

    Typically 1 week

  3. Analysis and manual review

    We run automated tooling, triage the results and read the highest-risk code line by line. We report critical findings to you as we find them.

    Typically 2 to 4 weeks

  4. Reporting and walkthrough

    We deliver written findings with severity, evidence and fix guidance, then walk your engineers and leadership through them.

    Typically 1 week

  5. Remediation support and retest

    We answer developer questions, review the fixes and confirm in writing which findings are closed.

    Typically 2 to 4 weeks, optional

What you receive

  • A findings report with severity ratings, affected code locations, proof of the issue and specific remediation guidance.
  • An executive summary written for leadership, with the business risk stated in plain English.
  • A threat model with data flow diagrams and a ranked list of abuse cases.
  • A NIST SSDF (SP 800-218) gap analysis with a prioritized roadmap, where SSDF is in scope.
  • A software bill of materials and a dependency risk summary.
  • Secure coding standards and a pull request review checklist tailored to your stack.
  • A retest letter listing which findings were verified as fixed, where retest is in scope.

Frameworks and standards

  • NIST Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF), SP 800-218
  • OWASP Top 10 and OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS)
  • OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications, for code that integrates language models
  • CWE and the CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses
  • CVSS for severity scoring
  • SPDX and CycloneDX for software bills of materials
  • SLSA for build and supply chain integrity

Why Velero

  • Human review first

    Tools find known patterns. We pair them with manual review of the logic that decides who can do what, which is where serious defects hide.

  • Findings your developers can act on

    Every issue comes with the code location, a clear explanation of the risk and a specific fix, written in plain English rather than scanner output.

  • Senior-led, with remediation support

    Experienced practitioners run the review and stay available while your team fixes what we find.

FAQCommon questions

What is the NIST SSDF and does it apply to us?

The Secure Software Development Framework, NIST SP 800-218, is a set of practices for building software securely. It applies most directly if you sell software to U.S. federal agencies, which may ask you to attest that you follow it. Many commercial buyers now use it as a benchmark as well.

Do you review code with automated tools or by hand?

Both. Industry-standard tooling covers breadth quickly and catches known weakness patterns. Manual review covers depth in authentication, authorization, business logic and cryptography, which automated tools handle poorly.

Does our source code leave our environment?

It does not have to. We can review inside your repositories and environments under your access controls, and we agree handling rules and confidentiality terms before any code is shared.

How is a code review different from a penetration test?

A penetration test attacks the running application from the outside. A code review reads the source to find flaws that testing may never reach. Together they give the fullest picture, and findings from one often sharpen the other.

Can you review AI-generated code or applications that use language models?

Yes. We review code written with AI assistants the same way as any other code, with attention to insecure patterns and unvetted dependencies. For applications that call language models, we also test against the OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications.

How long does a review take?

A single application typically takes 4 to 8 weeks from scoping to final report. Duration depends on codebase size, language mix and how much manual review the risk justifies. We confirm a timeline after scoping.

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