DevSecOps Key Components

What is DevSecOps?

The DevSecOps acronym is short for development, security, and operations. DevSecOps is a practice that integrates security in every step of the software development cycle. DevSecOps creates splits the responsibility of security among development, security, and ITOps teams.

What is the goal of DevSecOps?

The DevSecOps security process allows issues to be addressed as they emerge in a more cost-effective manner. This promotes an increase rate of development for secure software and codebase. Adding the extra security layer throughout the process focuses on issues that are often overlooked, preventing data breaches and cybersecurity attacks.

What are the key components of DevSecOps?

Adding the focus of security throughout the entire IT DevOps lifecycle process, key components are required for its integration. These critical key components are:

• Application Inventory: Uses automated discovery and self-inventory tools to automate the profile and continuous monitoring of the code. Discovery tools enable organizations to identify their APIs, and self-inventory tools allow applications to self-identify.
• Custom Code Security: Software is continuously monitored for vulnerabilities throughout the software development cycle. Three types of testing are primarily used:
  • Static Application Security Testing to identify the root cause by scanning application source files.
  • Dynamic Application Security Testing to identify vulnerabilities through stimulated controlled attacks on a web application or service.
  • Interactive Application Security Testing to continuously analyze the application’s infrastructure, code, dependencies, and dataflow through a deep scan.
• Open-Source Security: Uses a solution to track open-source software libraries to report security vulnerabilities.
• Runtime Prevention: Discovers new vulnerabilities and this component protects applications in development.
• Compliance Monitoring: Ensures audit readiness.
• Cultural Factors: Establishes security training for developers.

DevSecOps and Shifting Left

The shift left approach is a crucial component of the DevSecOps practice. This approach focuses on integrating security at the beginning stages of software development instead of at the final or deployment stage. By focusing on vulnerabilities at early stages, organizations can have early detection for any potential vulnerabilities and resolve them quickly before it reaches the end-user. Integrating security in at the beginning of software development is effective and efficient for the later stages, however, it can be difficult to not disrupt current DevOps workflows.

What is DevSecOps vs. DevOps?

DevSecOps is an iteration of DevOps that adds security as an additional layer. DevOps involves development and operations teams working closely together to facilitate a faster deployment process. The DevSecOps platform focuses primarily on security throughout the entire development process.

How to Implement DevSecOps

Implementing DevSecOps does not have sequential steps followed by each organization, but here are some reoccurring processes that are followed by most:

• Step 1, Planning: Strategic planning is required for successful implementations. DevSecOps teams must create user designs, test criteria, and threat models as guidelines for development.
• Step 2, Development: The development phase evaluates the maturity of current practices for guidance. To encourage uniformity, establishing code review systems occurs in this step.
• Step 3, Building: Automated build tools combine source code into machine code. The automated build tools add important features into the code with a library of plugins.
• Step 4, Testing: Automated testing principles of the framework are tested into the pipeline.
• Step 5, Deployment: The deployment process is automated and accelerated for software delivery through infrastructure as code (IaC) tools.
• Step 6, Operations: DevSecOps team provide maintenance and secure software infrastructure.
• Step 7, Monitoring: Tools are used to continuously check on the software to ensure it is performing efficiently and effectively.
• Step 8, Scaling: Organizations scale IT infrastructure for proper management without wasting significant resources.

Benefits of DevSecOps

DevSecOps focuses on speed and security throughout the software development cycle. Through this practice, DevSecOps produces benefits such as:

• Improved, proactive security;
• Cost-effective software delivery;
• Automation;
• Adaptive processes that can be repeatable;
• Minimize vulnerabilities;
• Faster speed of recovery; and
• Enhancing the value of DevOps.