DevSecOps has become an essential subject in technology. It’s not just that companies find it easier to implement security with DevOps, but it’s also a way to bring enterprises closer to their customers. DevSecOps is the answer to a lot of the issues that organizations face with cybersecurity. With the help of DevSecOps, organizations can ensure that the software development process is more secure.

What is DevSecOps?

DevSecOps is an approach to software development that enhances security and reliability. Security is a broad term that can include anything from business continuity to web application vulnerabilities. When the terms DevSecOps and security are used in the same sentence, the discussion usually is about how to create a secure software development pipeline. The focus of DevSecOps is on the continuous development and improvement of security, as well as the prevention of new vulnerabilities. It provides a framework for automating security processes and improving security. The DevSecOps software development approach focuses on: prioritizing security, automating security, and integrating security into the software development process.

Why DevSecOps?

Due to the increasing threat of cyber-attacks, security is a top priority for any organization. To ensure that you are protecting your data and information, you should implement DevSecOps technology. This technology can help you to identify vulnerabilities, protect your organization from cyber-attacks and improve the security of your data. When you think about security, you might think about checking the box on your vulnerability management plan. But are you doing enough? You can find out by implementing DevSecOps. DevSecOps is the process of integrating a Security Development Lifecycle into your Software Development Lifecycle. It also includes making sure your developers are getting security training so they can write secure code.

How to implement DevSecOps in your company?

• Use agile methodologies to deliver code

An agile approach to DevSecOps helps teams check for vulnerabilities quickly and embed code analysis into the quality assurance process.

• Be clear that DevSecOps is a cultural shift

Adopting a DevSecOps approach would be a huge task for most companies, so be empathetic to how big of a culture shift it is. Be open to a discussion, be bold and be the one to take the first step toward change. If you engage using a clear and simple approach that highlights the business, efficiency, and security benefits for each organization, it’ll be easier to find common ground and have a shared mindset going in.

• Run automated tests wherever possible

Automation is the driving force in DevSecOps, running automated tests and dependency checks at every stage of the pipeline is crucial.

• Align your security practices with development, not the other way around

It’s important that you discuss your security with the development team however, you do not bring your security practices to the development team and expect them to change how they develop code. Obviously, you shouldn’t ignore your security requirements but you need to be willing to change your security practices to align with the development workflow.

• Prevention to Vulnerability Identification

Once your security practices are aligned with the development workflow, you can then consider expanding from the monitoring and visibility role to actively identifying vulnerabilities in the code.

What is the future of DevSecOps?

DevSecOps is still in its infancy. It is still in its early stages and still has a lot to learn. As it becomes more established, it will become more widely accepted and widely used. The future of DevSecOps is quickly approaching with the incorporation of continuous delivery and continuous integration. With so much data and information being gathered, it’s no longer just about security; it’s about operational efficiency. Focusing on DevSecOps will help your company be more efficient and reduce costs.

How can DevSecOps benefit your company?

With the continuous advancements in securing a digital presence, it can be difficult to keep up. The good news is that DevSecOps is a security concept that leverages DevOps and is focused on finding vulnerabilities within the software. With DevSecOps, there are three main areas from that organizations can benefit security, development, and operations. If you are in the position to take advantage of DevSecOps, there are three main areas to focus on to make your organization more secure.

The first area is security. Security software should be able to identify vulnerabilities in software and alert the development team about these vulnerabilities. The second area is developed. To incorporate DevSecOps into your software development process, development teams should analyze their software to identify any vulnerabilities. The third area is operations. Organizations should consider adding DevSecOps into their operations process to detect any vulnerabilities that may exist in a system, Moreover DevSecOps enables better coordination and transparency right from the start of development, it also helps in fast recovery in case of any security incident.

Difference between DevOps and DevSecOps

DevSecOps Best Practices

The following factors facilitate and constitute an important role in implementing DevSecOps.

• Practice Secure Coding

The importance of secure coding is the ability to develop software that has a high resistance to vulnerabilities. Not practicing secure coding may invite a multitude of software security risks, such as a breach of an organization’s confidential information. Hence, it’s crucial that your developers are skilled enough to do it—even if it translates to a time and cost investment. Establishing and adhering to coding standards also come in handy, as they help developers write clean code.

• Embrace Automation

Just like it is in DevOps, automation is a key characteristic in DevSecOps. In order to match the pace of security with your code delivery in a CI/CD environment, automation of security is a necessity. This is especially true for large organizations where developers push various versions of code to production multiple times a day.

It’s important to be thoughtful when automating security testing. Choosing the wrong automated tools for the wrong purposes can be detrimental. Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools are widely preferred to continuously check and identify any potential issues early in the development cycle. Choosing the right security automation tool and going forward with it is crucial for the success of your company’s products.

• Training and Upskilling Your Staff

Any successful DevSecOps program will invest in good training and professional development for its staff.

Training must be rooted in company goals, policies, and standards for software security, and learning media must be flexible and tailored. To foster and develop good security staff, organizations must provide new hires with the appropriate training and tools they need to do their jobs well, and contribute to the successful release of secure software.

• Performing regular security audits

Security audits are an effective way for you to keep an eye on your work and to ensure that the code that you’re developing is secure. Regular security audits also allow you to find potential threats and vulnerabilities before they become a problem. By performing regular security audits, you’ll be able to identify potential risks, and you’ll be able to provide reports on any potential security threats that arise.

• Foster a DevSecOps culture and mindset

When it comes to DevSecOps, it’s important to have a strong DevSecOps culture and mindset. If an organization is a little lax in its approach, it might be missing out on both security and agility. When it comes to culture, you need to first define your DevSecOps culture. There are a few things that should be in place to achieve this. It’s important to define a clear mission for DevSecOps and have a DevSecOps charter. Ensure that your employees know exactly what the culture is and that it’s going to be a big part of their job. To keep a culture going, you need to put in place some practices. A few practices that you should do within your organization –  have a DevOps methodology, cross-functional training, having an incident response plan, and creating an incident response team.

• Measure every step

One of the best ways to improve DevSecOps is to measure everything. Everything you do should be measured and measured again. Measure how long it takes to update the code, how much code the developer’s team has updated in the last week, how many times the code has been deployed, and the success rate of the deployment. These are just a few of the many things to measure. You want to measure everything and then measure the improvement over time.

• Red Teams, Blue Teams, and Bug Bounties

DevSecOps teams should employ proactive approaches that enable quick and timely discovery of vulnerabilities and security weaknesses. Here are several options:

Red teams – Typically an external ad-hoc team of ethical hackers employed to find ways to exploit IT environments and attempt to breach their defenses. The goal is to find security vulnerabilities and potential attack vectors so that the company can mitigate them before a real breach occurs.

Blue teams – Typically an internal team is responsible for incident response or security in general. The blue team needs to defend against the red team and prevent them (and any real threat) from breaching the network.

Bug bounty program – Offer rewards to individuals who report bugs or security vulnerabilities in various software products. DevSecOps teams can leverage this information to ensure their systems do not contain high-risk vulnerabilities.

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