How DevSecOps Makes Software Delivery More Secure

What is DevSecOps?

DevSecOps in practice follows suit of the conventional DevOps whilst bringing together a larger variety of diverse disciplines and professionals or fluent and smooth collaboration that ensures fast and secure deliverance of software products. The DevSecOps is an iterative methodology from the initial writing of the code, transitioning into becoming a build that goes through the deployment into a production environment and testing. DevSecOps offers greater security and tracking of the code builds, Read on to find out more on how it manages to tackle security threats and issues in earlier stages.

How Does DevSecops Function?

The productions cycle with DevSecOps typically looks like this :

1.  The development team or individual in charge of coding does the programming and commits the changes within a version control management system. 
2. The piece of code that has been produced now goes under static code analysis and is refined for any bugs or security-related discrepancies.  
3. The deployment of this application is the next step, here security configurations are highly regarded and applied.
4. The next stage in the DevSecOps pipeline is automated testing. The newly deployed code goes through a series of smoke and stress tests that monitor the functioning of APIs, Security tests, New integrations in the software as well as the UI and backend functionalities. If all tests are passed then the build goes on to the production stage.
5. Lastly, DevSecOps also ensures that while the build is in the production environment no security risks are identified.

Why Is DevSecOps Needed?

The primary aim of DevSecOps is to incorporate security parameters as soon as possible in the pipeline of the CI/CD programming environment. It approaches the software development cycle with the mindset that entailing security hazards are everyone’s liability. DevSecOps groups are interestingly enabled to apply security in both expansiveness and profundity.

As the IT and computing environment has evolved and shifted from primitive methodologies to more agile and cloud-based computations, there is mass utilization of shared data and storage spaces. The use of cloud and open-source also entails more public access hence the risks are higher which requires a robust and redefined concept of security at all levels.

In case of stolen data or viruses such as wormware or malware exploits, companies can suffer from huge losses that can result in the stagnation of their growth and negatively impact their reputation.

DevSecOps allows us to make cybersecurity an equal concern from the beginning of the development process, hence the earlier the identification of any hazard happens the quicker it can be resolved, saving money and minimizing down-time. You can read more on how cyber security is one of the major concerns to address for large companies currently here.

We have also observed the increase in the frequency of build and updates to a software hence DevSecOps allows a more manageable and stable framework to produce stable and secure code.

What Are The Principals DevSecOps Has Centered Around?

The primary requirement of this framework requires a shift in the organizational structure at the cultural and operational levels. As people will be required to familiarize themselves with regulations, methodologies, configurations, and other resources that this framework itself utilizes.

Primarily to make sure the changes are responsibly carried out in the development cycle a “Security Champion” will supervise the deployment of the following:

• Static Application Security Testing: designed to catch any security-related deficiencies in the code.
• Software Composition Analysis: Providing insight on open-source dependencies 

Best Practices When Using DevSecOps:

1. The Shift-Left Manifesto: This mantra propels developers to shift their security testing from the right end of the pipeline to the left, as to start addressing security risks at the beginning instead of waiting for the development process to conclude.
2. Running the build through a threat modeling exercise can also help identify grey areas and weaknesses in your resources that can be tended immediately ensuring quality and efficiency for the development team.
   
3. In a collaborative effort, with security now being prioritized the development engineers, operations teams, and compliance teams are more informed on security risks and parameters entailing a familiar delivery process for all. Read more on how to harbor a healthy team culture here.
4. Greater feedback integration and deeper customer satisfaction, currently, the best security tools can provide insight into no more than 20–30% of latent weaknesses in a build. Automated security testing running parallel with the code being written allows products to be more stable even in their canary build stage and need lesser modifications in the later stage.
5. DevSecOps provides a deeper insight into the implementation of code. Numerous issues can also be identified under this strict observance such as Code Smells or Code Obfuscation.
6. Traceability is increased as configurations taking place throughout the development pipeline can be matched to where they are required, ensuring better manageability.
7. Monitoring is a key factor in DevSecOps, a more robust system allows intervention and instant response in case of any risks being identified.
8. Lastly, the security protocols are audited and documented in a systematic manner which allows homogenous and responsible behavior across all team members.

How DevSecOps Is Better Than DevOps?

The embedded security approach in the traditional DevOps frameworks ensures automation across all development and deployment levels. The ability of such a system to identify security issues as and when they happen, particularly when they’re simpler to distinguish and less expensive to fix helps diminish the margin for larger errors and losses. 

As developers write and design lengthy chunks of code it’s a must to introduce agility and security into the processes earlier on instead of taking a waterfall model approach in terms of security testing. 

By upgrading infrastructure for eg: introducing more servers, DevSecOps enables organizations to smoother and quicker transitions. Anomaly detection reduces the risks and helps avoid complex and highly damaging malfunctions.

What Benefits Does DevSecOps Promise You?

1. Reduce the occurrence of high-risk security gridlocks.
2. In the initial stages, the potential damage is lower and costs incurred to fix issues will also be significantly smaller compared to that after your development cycle.
3. Efficiency and speedier deliveries.
4. Bring together high-performing technical architects and engineers to aid your organization produce standardized and robust products.
5. Compliant with  General Data Protection Regulation

Conclusively according to Gartner, DevSecops will be adopted into the mainstream in the next 2-5 years. If your company is already on DevOps then it would be a brilliant idea to retransform your core to DevSecOps to supplement your existing methodologies.