The Influence of Cybersecurity Practices on Project Management in Software Engineering

Abstract

Cyber threats are becoming more common and complex, making cybersecurity an integral part of the software engineering project management process. Although this correlation is seen in my mind, there is very little empirical data that a connection between cybersecurity practices and project management performance exists. This research examines how the five cybersecurity principles of secure coding, threat modeling, encryption and authentication, penetration testing and continuous monitoring affect four project management principles – project timeline, project budget, project team collaboration and project risk management. The method used was mixed-methods, which involved surveys with 128 software engineering professionals and thematic analysis. The results show that project success is most closely related to risk management preparedness, followed by budgeting for cybersecurity and collaboration among team members. Projects that introduced cybersecurity early in the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) indicated that they had a 19% reduced perceived risk of delays, compared to those that integrated security later in the SDLC. Qualitative results also revealed that the main organizational barriers were too little training, budget limitation and delayed security integration. In general, the study demonstrates empirical evidence that cybersecurity needs to be thought of as a tactical organizational capability rather than simply a technical protection. The proposed findings provide practical recommendations to support the integration of cybersecurity in the SDLC to enhance the predictability, collaboration, risk management, and software engineering project performance.