The increased availability of high-speed internet has increased the demand for digital security. And industries need to ensure their applications’ safety more than ever.
SecDevOps aims to embed security at the start of the development process. It increases collaboration between software development departments to ensure a robust, secure architecture. SecDevOps may be less productive than DevSecOps; however, increased security will avoid potential disasters.
SecDevOps Introduction
DevOps accelerates application development. However, security is an afterthought in DevOps; this makes it challenging to integrate security. Moreover, you only get small windows of opportunity for finding and fixing security issues.
SecDevOps solves this issue by integrating security early in the app development workflow. It forces the developers to keep security principles in mind while writing code.
The two principles of SecDevOps are:
- Security as Code (SaC)
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
SaC means implementing security in the DevOps workflow using automated programs. Further, it aims to precisely track changes in the code and check for security bugs instead of scanning the entire code every time.
IaC is the process of applying coding principles to infrastructure with tools like Ansible and Puppet. This principle aims to eliminate inconsistencies, simplify processes, and reduce vulnerabilities.
In SecDevOps, developers work in a version control management system, making tracking changes and collaboration easier. The process of SecDevOps involves the following steps:
- Write a code, and the system tracks the changes.
- Test the static code for security bugs.
- Apply security configurations to the system in a development environment created using IoC tools like Ansible.
- Test the backend, integration, API, security, and UI using an automated test suite.
- Deploy the application in a test environment and perform automated dynamic testing.
- Move the application to the production environment if it passes the above tests.
- Keep monitoring for security threats.
Benefits of SecDevOps
In SecDevOps, the security team decides on the coding rules that must be followed to make sure that security is maintained throughout the development process. And they will instruct developers to code, analyze, and test to avoid vulnerabilities. Since most of the processes in SecDevOps are automated, the security team will also tell the developers when they need to step in, such as during security-critical stages.
SecDevOps also leverages root cause analysis to study the code and progressively enhance security, ensuring the workflow concludes with the fewest vulnerabilities possible.
A few benefits of SecDevOps are listed below:
- Security teams can quickly implement security in SecDevOps as it starts very early in the development cycle.
- Developers and Security teams can track changes rapidly.
- Teams can collaborate more efficiently.
- You will get more opportunities for automating the workflows.
- You can detect vulnerabilities very early in the SecDevOps development cycle.
- And because of automation, your staff will be free to focus on advanced tasks.
Best Practices of SecDevOps
SecDevOps combines the security team with the DevOps team, which improves collaboration and security. However, your organization might be reluctant to integrate security into the DevOps workflow. The reason could be cultural resistance, poor teamwork, lack of time, etc. But there are ways to implement SecDevOps comfortably. The exact method may vary between industries, but there are a few general best practices.
Focus on Security Training
Security training does not mean making every employee a security expert. Instead, it means instructing them on general security best practices. That way, employees can understand how to write the codes to ensure minimum vulnerability.
Red/Black Implementation
“Red/Black” implementation refers to running an old and new version of an application simultaneously without entirely shifting to the more recent version. Similarly, you can create a SecDevOps pipeline that runs parallel to your existing workflow. Then you can slowly change to the new workflow without interrupting existing ones.
People-Centric Security
Besides instructing your employees on security principles, you must instill responsibility so they can focus on security. Creating a vulnerability-free application should not be the responsibility of any one team. Instead, every individual must take responsibility for keeping their codes secure.
Increase the Number of Automated Workflows
Automation will replace the need for manually implementing security principles. Except for some critical situations, you can automate most of the processes in SecDevOps. There are several benefits to automation:
- It frees your staff to focus on more critical tasks
- It eliminates errors inevitable with manual processes
- It accelerates the software development cycle.
In conclusion, SecDevOps improves security by reducing human intervention, improving collaboration, and increasing automation. Moreover, it enforces people-centric security, where every employer is responsible for implementing security. SecDevOps can provide tools for scanning and analyzing security that developers can use. In the SecDevOps workflow, security is put in place right away. The security team sets rules for how to code, analyze, and test. This workflow ensures that you detect most of the vulnerabilities very early.
