Introduction to DevSecOps

We had just about grown used to acronyms such as CI, CD, and DevOps when the new kid on the table announced its arrival. DevSecOps is the new player in the world of software development as a consequence of the latest, must-adopt evolution of DevOps. DevSecOps stands for Development, Security, and Operations.

What is DevSecOps?

We are now accustomed to how DevOps integrates development and operations to improve and stimulate software development. DevOps was not built regarding security insertion in the system and therefore DevSecOps came into play. DevSecOps practices the philosophy of DevOps and increases it by integrating security practices within the DevOps process.

Until now, security has often been proposed as the Achilles Heel of development methodologies like DevOps. While DevOps can be leveraged to establish robust and dynamic applications to satisfy the needs of today, given the dynamic security landscape, it was about time to question “are these security measures enough?” Are the old security models enough and working capably in this time of continuous delivery? While DevOps remains a deeply collaborative environment, is it justified for security to continue in a silo?

DevSecOps makes sense in today’s business narrative – here’s why

Given today’s software-defined view, just concentrating on speed, scale, and functionality of applications is no longer sufficient to call an application successful.

As cyber-attacks, hacks, and security breaches become a continuous threat, especially in the current pandemic-induced global lockdown situation, iron-clad security standards are growing as a business imperative. What if some malware gets added during the development process or worse, once an application has been turned out to consumers? The implications are many and they are important. For instance, the cost of a single data breach can amount to more than $150 million. But the costs can be more than just financial, cyber-attacks can occur in a loss of face for the business as a whole.

“The intent and purpose of DevSecOps, is to build on the mindset that ‘everyone is accountable for security to safely share security decisions at speed and scale to those who endure the highest level of context—without reducing the safety needed,” says DevOps advocate Shannon Lietz.

Benefits of DevSecOps

By integrating Security and DevOps we can ensure that security is constantly “top of the mind” when producing and deploying applications for both developers and network administrators.

Along with this, the other advantages of DevSecOps are:

• Enhanced speed of delivery by detecting and correcting security issues early on during the development process
• Enhanced speed of improvement in case of a security incident
• Enhanced code coverage, and decreased vulnerabilities and insecure defaults
• Ability to stay ahead of innovations in cybercrime by robust security auditing, monitoring, and timely information

Tools for DevSecOps

It needs many technology stacks with different solutions that require to be carefully integrated to deploy the DevSecOps culture without building gaps or generating bottlenecks in security.

Below are some significant and trending DevSecOps tools:

• SonarQube: used for continuous inspection for code quality. It presents continuous feedback on software quality.
• ThreatModeler: implements a threat modeling solution that measures and secures the company software development lifecycle. It predicts, recognizes, defines security threats, and assists you in saving time and cost.
• Aqua Security: provides prevention, discovery, and response automation to secure the build, protect cloud infrastructure, and secure running workloads. It guards the entire application lifecycle.
• CheckMarx: a comprehensive suite of software security solutions. This suite provides security testing for static and dynamic applications, tools like software composition study, and code bashing to improve software security culture among developers.
• Fortify: presents application security as a service. It is utilized majorly in enterprises for Steady development, security testing, and continuous monitoring and protection.
• HashiCorp Vault: maintains secrets like passwords, tokens, API keys, certificates, and protects such sensitive data. There are more secret managers you can explore here.
• GauntLT: a behavior-driven development tool to automate attack devices. It can easily integrate with your company’s testing tool and processes.
• IriusRisk: provides production-level application security at measure. It helps you maintain threat models and security risks utilizing two-way synchronization with testing tools and subject trackers with a real-time security activity view.

This conversation on DevSecOps also becomes more appropriate as we witness a steady shift in IT infrastructure. We’ve embraced the cloud. Dynamic provisioning and shared resources are a strength. And while we have brought development and services under one automated umbrella, security and compliance monitoring tools haven’t saved up with this pace of change. The math is easy– more automation from the beginning leads to fewer errors and reduces the possibilities of downtime or attacks. When security functions such as firewalling, identity and access management (IAM), vulnerability scanning, etc. are enabled programmatically during the DevOps lifecycle, security professionals can make more high-value work like setting up policies and concentrating on business strategies.

For the longest time, security has been regarded as a barrier to innovation, a disturbing irritant even. With DevSecOps, we can observe a swift shift in the software development landscape—that of ‘shifting security left’ and getting it seamlessly aligned with the development process itself to boost innovation, but securely.

That was all about the basics of DevSecOps.  TestUnity experts can help you to promote and apply DevSecOps culture in your organization. Connect with our experts to know more about DevSecOps and understand the core responsibilities of a DevSecOps expert.

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