DevSecOps—which stands for development, security, and IT operations—expands on the principles of DevOps (development operations) to include secure development practices. DevOps refers to a development approach aimed at creating, testing, and releasing software in a quick and agile way. This is accomplished via task automation and management tools to make development workflows efficient and to break down silos between development and operations teams for effective collaboration. DevSecOps software goes a step further to help teams accomplish cybersecurity by default in their DevOps environments. Given the nature of continuous delivery software environments, it can be difficult for cybersecurity professionals to clean up after developers. For example, developers often integrate any number of open-source components and application programming interfaces (APIs). The security standards and statuses of these components are independent from those of the developer’s employer, thus introducing multiple potential weak points that can be difficult to manage and track. Beyond that, even the smallest changes to code repositories can result in unforeseen bugs and issues. Some of these flaws can leave a hole in a company’s security or allow bad actors to exploit an application’s functionality. Security professionals often find themselves reacting to issues created by unassuming development teams despite their best efforts to implement preventative systems. DevSecOps software helps to create highly secure code by design, rather than after the fact.
DevOps teams need the right software stack to fully realize DevSecOps’ security by design. DevSecOps tools smoothly integrate with pre-existing pipelines to enhance cybersecurity practices while preserving operating efficiency. By utilizing one or more of these software products, teams gain assurance that their DevOps workflows continue with less security risk. For example, teams using software composition analysis (SCA) software are automatically alerted to any changes to the status of any number of open-source components they use. With potentially hundreds of open-source components in use by a given development team, SCA constantly scans for security threats and version updates for any and all of them. This allows teams to focus on other tasks while software tools automatically do the extensive work of keeping components up to date, ensuring a passive high standard of security. The resulting peace of mind also extends to cybersecurity professionals within DevOps teams. Rather than address security issues reactively, cybersecurity professionals can work in lockstep with DevOps teams and rest assured that their output is proactively secure.
Key Benefits of DevSecOps Software
Modern DevOps principles help companies remain competitive by allowing them to release product updates and address issues rapidly. By automating repetitive tasks and enhancing effective collaboration between team members, businesses are able to achieve agile workflows and bring product decisions to fruition as quickly as possible. With development processes moving so rapidly, it can be difficult for companies to ensure that their cybersecurity standards align with best practices to minimize security risks. Even the best cybersecurity professionals can find it near impossible to keep up when so many aspects of their company’s product development environment are constantly changing. DevSecOps tools help to remedy this disconnect by folding security tasks into the DevOps pipeline. By integrating security practices as part of the DevOps process and automating tedious checks and updates, DevSecOps software improves DevOps environments.
Minimize risks — DevOps tends to move quickly and with constant change comes many potential new security risks. The primary goal of DevSecOps software is to aid in the detection and remediation of any current and future security vulnerabilities as a result of continued development. This allows DevOps teams to remain agile while benefiting from the peace of mind granted by DevSecOps tools.
Ease workloads — Without DevSecOps tools, cybersecurity professionals must constantly review code changes and other updates related to development to ensure that high security standards are maintained. Proposed product updates often introduce unforeseen new vulnerabilities that must be addressed. DevSecOps tools automate much of the vetting processes involved with proper cybersecurity upkeep and alert users to security issues as soon as they occur. This relieves the workload carried by cybersecurity professionals and allows them to take on a more active, in-the-moment role within a DevOps environment.
Any organization with a development or DevOps team benefits from the security protections offered by DevSecOps tools. Companies that already implement DevOps workflows can take the natural next step to incorporate this software and improve their cybersecurity standards without sacrificing turnaround time. Tools like dynamic application security testing (DAST) software automate security tests for a variety of real-world threats, allowing teams to focus on development while automating the necessary handling of tests. Cybersecurity professionals are typically the administrators of DevSecOps tools, but the tools are also used by developers and other DevOps team members who integrate them within their standard workflows.
Cybersecurity professionals — DevSecOps software makes cybersecurity professionals’ lives easier by automating many of the tasks associated with security best practices. These tools remove the need for processes like constant manual testing, helping cybersecurity professionals to focus on maintaining high security standards via administrative oversight and support as needed. When DevSecOps tools detect issues, cybersecurity professionals rely on their reporting functionality to address security flaws as necessary.
Developers — DevSecOps software usually integrates with existing development pipelines, allowing developers to play a significant role in maintaining security standards each step of the way in the development process. With proper DevSecOps implementation, developers can focus on coding while automated tools alert them to any cybersecurity issues as they come up. From there, developers can either remediate the issue themselves or lean on cybersecurity professionals within their organization for further support. This allows DevOps workflows to continue smoothly without sidelining important security measures.
Automation — DevSecOps tools automate many of the tasks associated with maintaining high security standards throughout development cycles. Depending on the product, DevSecOps software is able to automatically run penetration tests, monitor open-source components for vulnerabilities in real time, and scan code for potential security flaws. This shifts workloads off of users’ shoulders and allows them to focus on the meat of development without being bogged down by security upkeep.
Customization — Many DevSecOps tools allow users to set their own parameters for testing and scanning before automating the execution of those tasks. The priority levels of different security risks vary depending on a company’s development environment, so customization is important to ensure specific needs are being met.
Task management — Most DevSecOps software allows administrators to tag team members, set priorities, and monitor status for tasks related to security risks. Once DevSecOps software detects an issue, cybersecurity professionals can manage a coordinated response to ensure the risk is properly handled.
Reporting — Cybersecurity professionals and developers alike rely on the reporting functionality of DevSecOps software, which alerts users to various security flaws and describes issues in detail. This allows users to get to the heart of issues faster by eliminating guesswork.
Remediation — Some DevSecOps tools play an active role in remediating issues upon detection. This includes automatic remediation suggestions as part of a report and even automated responses to perceived security threats.
DevSecOps software presents many benefits for organizations looking to implement better security standards in their DevOps environments without sacrificing agility. However, these tools must be properly assessed to ensure that a company’s needs are being met. Implementation without proper research can lead to disastrous security flaws. Proper security is all or nothing, and the right set of software products paired with properly trained professionals can be airtight—but the pool of available tools must be thoroughly assessed and understood to achieve a high standard of cybersecurity.
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