DevSecOps is a native DevOps extension. It aims to accelerate high-quality software delivery with automatic deployment, acceleration, and shutdown response. Apart from that, it helps in various functions in the software development life cycles (SDLC). 

DevSecOps is a philosophy of integrating security processes within the DevOps process. DevSecOps involves creating a culture of ‘Security As a Code’ through continuous communication between release engineers and security teams. The DevSecOps movement, like DevOps itself, focuses on creating new solutions for complex software development processes.

Why is DevSecOps Important?

The goal of DevSecOps is to close the common gap between IT and security while ensuring fast and secure code delivery. 

The successful implementation of DevSecOps looks like this:

• Includes safety tests in the CI / CD pipeline and throughout the SDLC. (instead of something done towards the end)
• It makes security everyone’s responsibility. For example, with the right tools, engineers should be able to view and address safety issues as part of their workflow and native environment.

• Automatically enable risk detection and correction with DevSecOps tools such as software composition analysis (SCA), DAST, SAST, and IAST.

What is the Impact of DevSecOps?

Integrating DevSecOps brings the best quality and secure software. Additionally, it can help improve the delivery speed of the software as security is part of the development and can’t be done later on.

The security measures available at DevSecOps have many other benefits. These include:

• High speed and sharpness of defense teams
• Ability to respond to change and need urgently
• Better interaction and communication between groups
• Additional opportunities for automated construction and quality assurance testing
• Early detection of risk in code
• The assets of team members are released to operate in a high-value work

Getting started with DevSecOps

Cloud computing requires high-level security controls. An ongoing model of threat and system management is needed as technology-driven businesses are developing at a rapid pace.

Here are six key components of the DevSecOps approach:

• Code Analysis – Bring the code in small pieces so that any external threat can be seen immediately.
• Change Management – Increase speed and efficiency by allowing anyone to submit changes, and then determine whether the change is positive or negative.

• Compliance Monitoring – Be prepared for auditing at any time (i.e. being in a compliant capacity, including collecting evidence of GDPR compliance, compliance with PCI, etc.).

• Threatening Investigation – Detect potential threats with each code update and be able to respond quickly.

• Risk Assessment – Find new risks with code analysis, analyze how fast they respond, and include amendments.

• Security training – Train software and IT engineers with guidelines for established systems.

Why Adopt DevSecOps?

DevSecOps philosophies are different from traditional application security strategies.

In previous generations of software development, where alternative releases were common, security teams had a point of personal control at the end of the SDLC to review the code and ensure that the product was not compromised. Even when technology companies have begun to adopt DevOps principles, security reviews often occur in the final stages of the SDLC because pre-security testing tools were not friendly to developers; developers want command-line applications that are automated and easily integrated with their other stacks.

The negative effect of insecurity embedded throughout the CI / CD pipeline is that engineers may simply throw the problem “off the wall” given the pressure to post features and updates very quickly. However, finding risks in the final stages of the SDLC can be very costly, and this situation does not give you a culture of collaboration between security and development.

Both groups have the same goal of exporting a large product, yes, but often have a different modus operandi: development requires faster movement, while security should delay everything to ensure products are only shipped when they are secure.

DevSecOps closes this gap by extending continuous paradigms from DevOps to security, making it an active part of the CI / CD pipeline for automatic testing.

Finally, implementing DevSecOps principles is one of the least expensive ways to ensure your product is secure and reduces the burden on the security team – while still delivering software at a faster rate.

Best Ways To Build A Stable DevSecOps Pipeline

Below we will explore the best practices that will help you embrace DevSecOps principles and build a strong pipeline.

1. Planning and Training

Careful planning is essential for the successful use of DevSecOps. Injecting safety into an existing pipeline is a major cultural change as it is a technological process.

2. Accept Automation

Automation is one of the main principles of DevOps, and it is no different from DevSecOps. It is unreasonable to expect the security team to personally review all releases because of the speed at which companies are now pushing code into production.

3. Examine Your Dependence to Identify Risk

To keep up with the pace of innovation, developers no longer write a lot of patent code – up to 90% of parts of modern applications are open source.

4. Introduce a License Compliance Check

While it is not a safety net for each eye, licensing compliance is another area related to the use of open-source software where companies are at risk

Reliance on open source has different types of licenses. Also, OSS users who do not comply with the licensing terms may be subject to legal action. (Example: Stockfish vs. ChessBase.)

In Conclusion

In a world where organizations can suffer long-term damage due to security breaches, there is great value in implementing appropriate safety precautions without compromising engineers. DevSecOps is a natural and necessary step for a continuous paradigm to deliver quality software on time and always competitive in the market.

For more information on how DevSecOps can be of real benefit, get in touch with our team of professionals. You can get in touch with them at info@bigsteptech.com to elevate your business operations today.