SECURING DEPLOYMENT: STRATEGIES AND BEST PRACTICES IN THE SSDLC

The thesis represents a focused exploration of the Deployment phase in the Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SSDLC) as a critical component of modern software engineering. As organizations shift toward agile and DevSecOps practices, deployment is no longer a static handoff but a dynamic, repeatable process with significant implications for security, availability, and compliance. This paper explores the contemporary importance of secure deployment, evaluates a spectrum of deployment strategies (e.g., blue-green, canary, rolling), and compares traditional methods with continuous deployment pipelines and Infrastructure-as-Code approaches. The security aspect is examined, with recommendations on best practices. Ultimately, this paper highlights how a well-executed deployment strategy can serve as both a technical and organizational safeguard, reinforcing security and operational excellence at the most critical juncture of software delivery.