What is DevSecOps and why should you care?

The trend towards cloud computing has generated a lot of excitement about DevOps, which promises to streamline and optimize processes. While this is great news for security geeks like me, it also raises concerns for developers, as there is often little emphasis on ensuring secure cloud migrations. That’s where DevSecOps comes in.

DevSecOps involves integrating security into the software development life cycle (SDLC) at an early stage. The goal is to produce more secure applications by making everyone involved in the SDLC responsible for security. This approach is particularly appealing to me, as it encourages collaboration between business, tech, and security teams to create products that are secure by design. But is it too good to be true? Let’s delve deeper and explore whether DevSecOps can truly be the solution we need to build secure products.

Let’s begin by discussing why DevSecOps is necessary. In the past, software products were developed using the waterfall methodology, which followed a linear approach that culminated in a “big-bang” release.

However, with the shift towards cloud computing and dynamic resource provisioning, developers now have access to numerous advantages in terms of speed, scalability, and application development costs. These benefits have made the DevOps movement a natural fit, as it emphasizes automation and monitoring at every step of the SDLC. The primary goal is to achieve shorter development cycles, increased deployment frequency, and more reliable releases, all aligned with business objectives. As a developer, I appreciate this approach, but I am concerned that stable infrastructure and applications do not automatically equate to secure infrastructure and applications.

In the traditional waterfall lifecycle, security checks were only performed at the end of the development process, just before the product was released. Security was viewed as a barrier, the final obstacle to overcome before a production release. Although many aspects of application development have evolved, security has not been given the same level of attention.

Nowadays, most software development teams use the agile methodology for rapid delivery. The iterative planning and feedback results enable teams to continuously align their product deliverables with business needs. However, the adaptability to changing requirements makes it difficult to test for security vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, traditional security processes have not kept pace with agile/DevOps environments, leading to security becoming a major roadblock in software development that is often bypassed. Even when it is not bypassed, the development team rarely has enough time to address all the security issues before the product goes live, resulting in an insecure application living somewhere on the internet. Ironically, ignoring security to avoid missing a deadline can put more risk into the application, as security defects in the SDLC can lead to serious vulnerabilities such as a breach caused by bad code.

Therefore, DevSecOps is essential to integrate security early in the SDLC, to ensure that all stakeholders are responsible for security, and to build secure applications.

How DevSecOps Works?

The primary objective of DevSecOps is to ensure the security of applications by involving security and operations team members from the beginning of a project and working closely with the development team. Here’s an overview of how DevSecOps works:

Analysis of infrastructure and environments to get the idea of challenges involves -

• Applications and APIs.
• Libraries and Frameworks.
• Container and Cloud.
• Network.
• Secure: After analyzing, secure it, and choose the right path according to culture.
• Automate Security Testing and verify it.
• Detect Attacks and prevent Exploits, i.e. defend the system.

How to Adopt DevSecOps?

These days, culture is the biggest hurdle to adopting DevSecOps, not technology. Historically, security teams and development teams have operated independently. To successfully transition to a DevSecOps approach, both teams need to embrace the DevOps methodology, and application security must be treated as an integrated strategy, with a continued focus on security awareness. Below are some effective ways to adopt it:

• Automate the process as much as possible.
• Train teams to code securely.
• Evaluate existing security measures and identify areas for improvement.
• Integrate security into the DevSecOps process.
• Use appropriate DevSecOps tools.
• Monitor continuous integration and continuous delivery.
• Analyze code and perform vulnerability assessments.
• Make security a mandatory consideration at every stage.

Choose a DevSecOps model that suits the organization’s needs. For example, organizations can opt for

• Static Analysis Security Testing (SAST)
• Dynamic Analysis Security Testing (DAST)
• Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
• Container security.

Benefits of DevSecOps

DevSecOps offers several benefits to organizations that adopt it, including:

1. Cost savings and increased delivery speed: DevSecOps incorporates security and testing into the development process, which helps identify and address issues earlier, reducing the time and cost of fixing them later.
2. Early security, monitoring, and deployment checks: With DevSecOps, security and monitoring are baked into the development process from the beginning, rather than being added as an afterthought. This ensures that the application is secure and stable throughout the development cycle.
3. Openness and transparency: DevSecOps emphasizes collaboration between teams and encourages open communication and transparency from the start of development.
4. Secure by design and measurable: DevSecOps encourages a “secure by design” approach, where security is integrated into every aspect of development, and the ability to measure security metrics is a priority.
5. Faster recovery time: In case of a security incident, DevSecOps allows for faster recovery time as security measures are already in place.
6. Improved overall security: DevSecOps enables the use of immutable infrastructure and security automation, resulting in better overall security posture.

Summary

Understanding the holistic approach to DevSecOps involves a comprehensive strategy that combines security and operations with development teams from the project’s outset. It involves analyzing infrastructure, automating security testing, detecting attacks, and integrating security into DevOps. The goal is to make application security an integrated strategy and encourage security awareness. Adopting DevSecOps provides benefits such as reducing expenses, increasing delivery rates, and faster recovery in the case of a security incident. It also supports openness and transparency, secure by design, and the ability to measure.