Code Signing

Overview

Code Signing is the use of a digital signature to bind executable code, scripts, drivers, updates, or software packages to a signing identity and enable verification that the content has not been altered. The control exists to reduce the likelihood and impact of compromise by making assets, identities, software, data, exposures, and control responsibilities visible and governable. It differs from artifact signing only in scope: artifact signing can cover broader build outputs, metadata, and attestations. It should be interpreted alongside Artifact Signing because the concepts can affect the same decision without representing the same control, event, or risk.

The workflow identifies the protected object and owner, evaluates threats and dependencies, applies preventive and detective safeguards, and routes exceptions or failures to accountable teams. Controls should be tested against realistic misuse, version changes, privileged access, third parties, and recovery conditions. In this context, security depends on protected signing keys, trusted build provenance, approved certificate issuance, deterministic verification, timestamping where needed, revocation, incident response, and preventing unauthorized code from entering the signing path.

It should connect the term to Certificate Management where that relationship changes access, transaction treatment, investigation, communication, or recovery.

Records should preserve scope, ownership, configuration or policy version, changes, approvals, test results, alerts, exceptions, incidents, remediation, and verification that the risk was reduced. Evidence must be protected from alteration and retained according to legal and operational need.

Useful measures include coverage, control effectiveness, unresolved critical findings, remediation age, unauthorized changes, detection time, incident frequency, repeat weaknesses, exception volume, and recovery performance.

The relationship with Key Management should be documented where it affects residual risk or control ownership.