DevSecOps

DevSecOps: Next Hot Trend in IT Industry

Why DevSecOps is the Next Hot Trend in IT Industry

DevSecOps offers benefits from speed and reliability to improved collaboration and security. It gives business operators the mindset of a cooperative system that is supplied with tools and processes that are helpful with security decision making.

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a software development method which refers to the “combination of cultural philosophies, practices, and tools that increases an organization’s ability to deliver applications and services at a faster pace.” However, there is a new method coming into place that addresses the issues of code quality and reliability assurance.

What is DevSecOps?

DevSecOps is known as the philosophy and a cultural shift in the software industry that aims to bake security practices into the rapid-release cycles that are typical of modern application development and deployment, also known as the DevOps process. This further development of the DevOps method is expected to bridge the gap that usually exists between development and security teams by automating security processes allowing security and reliability issues to be tackled more quickly and effectively. 

“Speed of delivery” and “secure code” are the language in which DevSecOps operates. While these are seemingly opposing goals, it is, in fact, a necessary response to the bottleneck effect of older security models on the modern continuous delivery pipeline. To put it simply, when everyone on a DevOps team is also focusing on security, that is DevSecOps.

Unlike traditional software development where developers buy time for the code to go through quality assurance and security testing by releasing new versions of their application every few months, DevSecOps is the “attempt to correct that and fully integrate security testing into the continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) pipelines.” Basically, the misalignment of security processes and disintegration of these with the organization’s goal and current needs would never lead to the right thing.

The DevSecOps Approach

Many companies have tapped the opportunities that come along automated security. However, most of the time, the results might not be immediately apparent because of so-called “security debt”, or the vulnerabilities that developers chose to ignore and not fix. In comparison to DevOps, DevSecOps views security teams as a valuable asset that help prevent slowdowns rather than a hindrance to agility. Here are six important components of a DevSecOps approach:

Code analysis

refers to the quick identification of vulnerabilities using code in small chunks

Change management

refers to submission to any type of change, regardless if it’s good or bad in nature, in order to increase speed and efficiency;

Compliance monitoring

encourages the organization to be in a constant state of compliance and ready for an audit any time

Threat investigation

refers to a quicker response to potential emerging threats by identifying it with each code update;

Vulnerability assessment

follows after code analysis where potential vulnerabilities are identified and quickly responded to and patched;

Security training

refers to training software and IT engineers with common guidelines for set routine.

It is important to note that in a DevSecOps environment, automated testing is performed throughout the development cycle. In an article released by McKinsey, they cited that the approach will have implications for each stage of the product life cycle:

Planning

Development teams are aware of their security and reliability responsibilities so they start to quickly model threats and risks to make the product secure, reliable, and compliant; thereby observing best practices and speeding up the planning and design process;

Coding

Constant development of their knowledge on  secure and resilient coding practices is on the top of the mind of the team. This is to ensure improvement in code quality. The team takes advantage of services and reusable coding patterns in order to build the functionality needed to meet resiliency and security requirements;

Reviewing

The team takes the role of a specialist group to scrutinize a product for potential and emerging security vulnerabilities. They review the code as often as possible through automated and manual checks, as part of the regular agile sprint;

DevSecOps Testing

Automated security tests are run alongside automated functional and performance tests. This is to ensure that testing is consistent and efficient and that security requirements are explicit. Conducted automatically every cycle are common security tests such as penetration testing;

DevSecOps Deployment

Via well-engineered automated processes, code is delivered to production hosting environments that invoke through APIs; thereby speeding up the process;

DevSecOps Operations

Automated processes including but not limited to real-time monitoring, evidence attestation, and compliance validation, are used to increase efficiency while the software is in production. Resolutions are immediately identified, prioritized. And monitored in the event that defects or vulnerabilities are discovered.

According to CSO Insider, the three key things to establish a DevSecOps environment are.Firstly, Security testing is done by the development team. Secondly, Issues found during that testing is managed by the development team. Thirdly, Fixing those issues stays within the development team. Using the ruggedizing process, combined with components previously mentioned, security becomes a higher priority. 

Security is needed by all businesses and business processes. Moreover, a dedicated team must be created in order to establish business understanding. This team shall be trained in tooling to discover flaws, run continuous testing, and generate forecasts to help business operators make effective decisions.

DevSecOps offers benefits from speed and reliability to improved collaboration and security. It gives business operators the mindset of a cooperative system that is supplied with tools. And processes that are helpful with security decision making. Moreover, its automated and consistent nature help in managing complex or changing systems efficiently and with reduced risk.

Conclusion

 As technology-driven businesses evolve at a drastic pace, continuous threat modeling and management of system builds become essential. So, if your organization hasn’t explored the concept of DevSecOps, the time to do so is now. Best to get a partner onboard in your security transformation, too. Croyten works on building information and security infrastructures to help businesses thrive and safe from cyberattacks. You may check our website to know more about our services.