DevSecOps Capability Guide

Cybersecurity’s increased influence in this digital ecosystem can be traced to the rise of DevSecOps. Organizations are becoming more aware of the necessity of giving security top priority in their software development procedures as a result of the frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks increase. DevSecOps offers a framework for tackling security issues at an early stage of software development, guaranteeing that security is embedded into the program from the beginning and lowering the possibility of security flaws and breaches.

A software development methodology called DevSecOps incorporates security procedures and practices into each phase of the software development lifecycle, from conception through deployment. It blends security with DevOps principles, which place a strong hold on teamwork and communication between development and operations teams to produce software more quickly and with higher quality.

Objectives Of DevSecOps

DevSecOps strives to safely distribute security choices at speed and scale to people with the most context without compromising safety. They need these goals.

• Fast, affordable software delivery

Security issues can cause major delays in non-DevSecOps software development. Code and security fixes take time and money. DevSecOps’ fast, secure delivery saves time and money by reducing the need to repeat security checks. Integrated security eliminates redundant reviews and wasteful rebuilds, making code safer and more cost-effective.

• Better, proactive security

DevSecOps begins development with cybersecurity practices. Code is audited, scanned, and tested for security throughout development. Issues are resolved immediately. Fix security issues before adding dependencies. Early adoption of defensive technologies reduces security costs. Better development, security, and operations coordination increase an organization’s reaction to incidents and problems. 

• Faster vulnerability patching

DevSecOps promptly addresses newly discovered security issues. As DevSecOps integrates vulnerability scanning and patching into the release cycle, CVE identification and patching become harder. Threat actors have less time to exploit public-facing production system flaws.

• Technology-compatible automation

If a firm ships software using a continuous integration delivery pipeline, operations teams can include cybersecurity testing in an automated test suite. Project and organizational goals determine security check automation. Automated testing can verify software security unit testing and patch levels. Before releasing an update, it may test and secure code with static and dynamic analysis.

• Replicable and adaptable

Security matures with businesses. DevSecOps is repeatable and adaptable. As the environment evolves, protection is applied consistently. DevSecOps maturity includes automation, configuration management, orchestration, containers, immutable infrastructure, and serverless computing environments. DevSecOps should naturally integrate security controls into development, delivery, and operations.

Difference Between DevSecOps and DevOps

DevSecOps was created to continuously embed security into the SDLC so DevOps teams could quickly and securely deploy applications. Testing, triage, and risk mitigation early in the CI/CD cycle avoids the time-consuming and costly effects of post-production fixes. “Shifting left” shifts security testing to developers, allowing them to fix code security vulnerabilities in near real-time. DevSecOps includes planning, design, coding, building, testing, and release, including real-time feedback loops and insights.

DevOps bases software development on company culture, procedure, technology, and tools. All three help developers and IT operations teams collaborate to build, test, and release software faster, agilely, and iteratively than traditional software development processes. DevOps eliminates boundaries between two teams. DevOps teams collaborate on software application development, testing, deployment, and operations.

How Are DevOps Different From DevSecOps?

• DevOps focuses on the collaboration and integration of development and operations teams to reduce the software development process and ensure faster delivery of quality software.

• DevSecOps, on the other hand, expands on the DevOps philosophy by incorporating security practices and processes throughout the entire software development lifecycle.

• While DevOps aims to improve the speed and efficiency of software delivery, DevSecOps prioritizes security as an integral part of the development process.

• DevOps primarily focuses on continuous integration, continuous delivery, and automation, while DevSecOps adds security testing, monitoring, and analysis to the mix.

• DevSecOps requires a shift in mindset and culture towards security and a strong collaboration between development, security, and operations teams to ensure that security is built into the software from the start.

Technology Capability For DevSecOps

These crucial elements may be used in DevSecOps approaches:

1. Applications and APIs available

Automate the portfolio’s code’s continuous monitoring, profiling, and discovery processes. Making use of code in data centers, virtual environments, private clouds, etc. other settings may fall under this category. Use a wide variety of automated discovery and self-inventory tools. You can find out what applications and APIs you have with the aid of discovery tools. Your applications can inventory themselves with the help of self-reporting technologies, and they can submit their metadata to a central database.

2. Security Code Custom

Keep an eye out for security flaws in software during all phases of development, testing, and operation. Deliver code frequently to enable prompt vulnerability detection for each code update. Static Application Security Testing (SAST) searches the source code of the application, precisely pinpoints the issue, and aids in fixing the underlying security issues. In order to find exploitable vulnerabilities in a live environment, dynamic application security testing (DAST) simulates controlled attacks on a functioning online application or service.

3. Open Source Security

Since open-source, also known as OSS, frequently has security flaws, a comprehensive security strategy should include a solution that monitors OSS libraries and reports flaws and license violations.

For the purposes of risk management, security, and licensing compliance, Software Composition Analysis (SCA) automates the visibility into open source software (OSS).

4. Runtime Defense

Protect apps that are already in use; new vulnerabilities could be found, or legacy applications could stop being developed. You can learn through logging what systems and attack vectors are being targeted. Threat modeling and security architecture procedures are influenced by threat intelligence.

5. Monitoring of Conformity

Enable audit readiness and ongoing compliance with the GDPR, CCPA, PCI, and other regulations. It involves monitoring software development and operations activities to ensure compliance with relevant regulations, standards, and policies. Here are some key aspects of compliance monitoring in DevSecOps: 

6. Cultural Influences

Establish security training for developers, find security champions, etc. DevSecOps requires a shift in mindset and culture towards security. This involves shared responsibility for security across all teams and a focus on continuous improvement and learning.

Best Practices For DevSecOps

Security should be built into the software development workflow rather than added later, as in waterfall development models. Here are a few best practices that DevSecOps would find valuable for their workflow.

• Befriend automation

DevOps values speed, and in a CI/CD setting, speed is everything. Security controls and testing must be implemented early and everywhere in the development lifecycle and automated because enterprises release new code into production. Organizations with advanced DevOps methods use automation for DevSecOps. Instead, waterfall models run automated security testing before production. From source-code analysis through integration and post-deployment monitoring, more test automation technologies are available for security analysis and testing across the software development lifecycle. Running automated scans on your entire application source code every day can be time-consuming and prevent you from keeping up with daily changes.

• Check code dependencies

Corporations are utilizing more open-source software in apps despite concerns about third-party software vulnerabilities. The cloud has accelerated innovation, helping organizations fulfill client needs faster. This rapid innovation has also increased the use of open-source software to assemble applications instead of developing them from scratch. Most developers don’t have time to analyze code in their open-source libraries or read the documentation. Thus DevSecOps requires automated methods for managing open-source and third-party components. You need to know if your open-source usage is causing vulnerabilities in your code and how they could affect dependent programs. Periodical code dependency checks are essential to DevSecOps because they help fight against having vulnerable code.

• Don’t take on more than you can handle

DevSecOps should include tools that enable developers to find and fix security vulnerabilities during normal workflow. It helps to scan code as they write it and receive fast feedback on security vulnerabilities. Introducing such tools requires minimal thinking and higher workflow. When a security team adds a static testing tool in the CI/CD chain, they often switch on checks for many security issues, which causes headaches for developers. Instead, start with one or two security checks to get developers acquainted to security rules in their workflow.

Start by turning on only the SQL injection rules when introducing an SAST tool in development. Developers will want to use the tool if it helps them catch coding problems. The best way to approach this is to look at the holistic set of all the different activities that go into a DevSecOps build. Choose one and test it before continuing on. Before expanding more on your project, start small, succeed and move to the next stage.

• Some tools are more beneficial than others.

When buying or choosing agile DevOps security tools, keep a few things in mind. Security products need to be able to integrate into the development process and allow the development and security teams to work together. Developers may leave the scanning tool if they have to initiate scans. A security product needs to make it easy for developers to quickly initiate scans and get results without having to leave their existing toolset. Speed and accuracy also matter. Security tools should be fast. Having a developer or security engineer verify scan results is useless. Tools must produce fast, accurate, and actionable results. The tools should help you detect and resolve vulnerabilities in open-source software components and lower the mean time to resolution.

• Threat modeling is difficult yet necessary.

Threat modeling can assist your security organization in understanding risks to your assets, their types and sensitivities, your existing measures for defending them, and any gaps in those controls. These assessments can find application architecture and design issues that other security methods overlook. Threat modeling cannot be automated like other DevOps procedures. But threat modeling is still important for DevOps success because it forces developers to view their program as an adversary.

• Teach developers to secure code.

Security and operations teams generally work in groups with different goals. Making a case to the company that these organizations can be combined is sometimes a bit of a struggle. Another difficulty is funding and time for secure coding training for the development staff. Developers don’t realize they’re coding insecurely. It’s still rarely taught and not a development team priority. It is advised to invest in developer security training for optimal results.

Leading Vendor For DevSecOps

Your organization’s unique needs, the complexity of your DevSecOps pipeline, and your security requirements will each impact your selection of vendors. 

GitLab

GitLab supports source code management, continuous integration, and continuous deployment. DevSecOps teams can scan their code for vulnerabilities, establish access controls, and include security testing in their pipeline thanks to GitLab’s strong security features. GitLab also offers cutting-edge functions like code review and automated testing that assist programmers in finding and resolving security concerns early in the software development lifecycle.

Atlassian: 

Jira for project management, Bitbucket for source code management, and Bamboo for continuous integration and deployment are just a few of the DevSecOps solutions offered by Atlassian. DevSecOps teams may easily scan their code for vulnerabilities and apply access controls thanks to the integration of these solutions with third-party security testing tools.

CircleCI: 

CircleCI is a cloud-based enabled tool for continuous integration and delivery that helps DevSecOps processes in a big way. It is a great option for businesses wishing to develop DevSecOps pipelines fast and efficiently because it has capabilities like automated testing, security scanning, and deployment automation.

IBM: 

IBM offers a number of DevSecOps solutions, such as IBM Cloud Pak for Security, a platform that incorporates security throughout the entire software development lifecycle. With capabilities like vulnerability management, threat intelligence, and automatic compliance monitoring, IBM Cloud Pak for Security is a great alternative for businesses wishing to adopt thorough DevSecOps procedures.

Sonatype: 

Sonatype offers a complete set of DevSecOps tools, such as Nexus Lifecycle for managing vulnerabilities and Nexus Repository for managing secure artifacts. DevSecOps teams can easily manage their dependencies and check their code for vulnerabilities with the help of these technologies, which can be combined with a broad variety of security testing tools.

Checkmarx: 

Checkmarx is a top supplier of DevSecOps solutions and application security testing technologies, such as static code analysis and dynamic testing. The integration of Checkmarx’s solutions with well-known DevOps tools like Jenkins and GitLab makes it simple for DevSecOps teams to scan their code for vulnerabilities and put access controls in place. In-depth reporting and analytics are also provided by Checkmarx, which makes it simple for teams to find and address security vulnerabilities early in the software development lifecycle.

Trend Micro: 

Trend Micro provides a variety of security solutions, such as cloud security, container security, and application security that connect with DevSecOps procedures. Their software is a fantastic option for businesses trying to develop thorough DevSecOps procedures because it includes capabilities like automatic vulnerability detection, security policy enforcement, and risk assessment.

Azure DevOps 

A comprehensive platform called Azure DevOps makes it possible for businesses to develop, test, and deploy apps quickly. DevSecOps is supported by a number of capabilities that Azure DevOps offers, including continuous testing, automated build, and release pipelines, and integrated security tools. Azure Security Center, which offers ongoing monitoring and security protection for cloud workloads, connects with Azure DevOps as well.

AWS

Additionally, AWS provides a number of services to assist with DevSecOps, such as AWS CodePipeline for automating build and deployment pipelines, AWS CodeCommit for secure code storage and version control, and AWS CodeBuild for developing and testing applications. AWS also provides a number of security services that can be included in DevOps workflows, such as AWS WAF for web application firewall protection, AWS Certificate Manager for managing SSL/TLS certificates, and AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) for user and access management.

Conclusion

As organizations use cloud services and customers in all industries become more concerned about vendor security, DevSecOps will become increasingly necessary and secure apps. DevSecOps is needed to compete safely now and in the future. DevSecOps allows developers and security teams to work together. Innovation and security can co-exist. Developers and security specialists must collaborate to create secure, high-performance compliance software. DevSecOps is now. 

DevSecOps grew out of the need for security to be built all the time during the software development lifecycle so that teams could make safe apps quickly and well. When testing, triage, and risk mitigation are done earlier in the continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) process, fixing a problem after a system has been deployed doesn’t take as long or cost as much.