All About DevSecOps with a Real-Life Analogy

Learn DevSecOps in simple language with real-life analogy. You will also learn about its implementation and different DevSecOps tools.

DevOps has become a popular approach, revolutionizing how software is built, tested, and deployed in the ever-evolving world of software development. However, with the increasing application complexity, there is an increase in cyber-attacks. Security has become an important aspect of software development. DevSecOps is a set of practices aiming to provide security into DevOps processes and enable the developing secure and resilient software applications. Now, what does the term devsecops refer to? You will find the answer to this question is this article only. This article is a one-stop solution for devsecops for beginners. This article will describe the concept of DevSecOps, its benefits, and how to implement it in your organization. 

Table of contents

• What is DevSecOps? 
• Real-life analogy of DevSecOps
• Why DevSecOps Matters?
• Benefits of DevSecOps
• How to Implement DevSecOps
• DevSecOps Tools
• Conclusion

What is DevSecOps?

DevSecOps is an approach that integrates security into the DevOps process to develop secure software applications. The traditional approach to software development is to develop and test the application first, then perform another security assessment at the end of the process. Like DevOps, DevSecOps is an organizational and technical method of combining project management workflows with automated IT tools. DevSecOps integrates active security audits and testing into agile development and DevOps workflows, so security is built into the product, not the finished product.

You can see in the above diagram 

DevSecOps= Development + Operations + Information Security

Real-life analogy of DevSecOps

Suppose you are doing research work in which you are implementing a machine learning project.

Scenario 1

You did the whole project implementation, and before the final submissions, you visited your supervisor and asked him to check your project. At that time, the supervisor will quote some of the mistakes and errors and ask you to work on those mistakes, and after that thesis will be submitted. This will ultimately delay your thesis submission.

Scenario 2

You are working on your project, visiting your supervisor monthly, and asking about feedback. And you are working on your mistakes side by side. At the time of submission, you will not face any problems. 

Which of the scenario is better?

Obviously, the second one as this will ultimately save you time. In the same way, in DevSecOps the reviews and feedback regarding security are incorporated in every phase.

Must read: Understanding the DevOps Lifecycle: Key Stages, Tools, and Techniques

Also read: Best Resources to Learn DevOps In-Depth in 2023

Check out some more DevOps Courses

Why DevSecOps Matters?

1. Reduce development time with DevSecOps

DevOps aims to combine development and operations processes to deliver applications faster and avoid delays. However, security measures are checked after the application is ready. Development time doubles if critical security risks are found before release. However, DevSecOps incorporates security practices into all phases to reduce development time and avoid security risks.

2. DevSecOps is much more cost-effective

The development process can be expensive, especially for long and complex projects if significant security risks are found in the application after the development phase is complete. The application is delayed, and the cost of fixing the problem increases exponentially. In that case, the development cost will increase by 30 times. DevSecOps detects security issues every step of the way, saving you a lot of money. 

3. DevSecOps identifies threats early

Detecting vulnerabilities can be very difficult when an application is ready to go live. Due to time and budget constraints, security teams may miss some vulnerabilities. Even if a vulnerability is found, fixing it takes a lot of resources and time. DevSecOps plays a key role here, as it actively participates in the process and uncovers threats at each development cycle. This allows you to identify and address security threats early.

Benefits of DevSecOps

1. Fast detection of security issues: DevSecOps allows developers to detect security issues early in development, reducing problem resolution time and costs.
2. Better collaboration: DevSecOps fosters collaboration between development, operations, and security teams to understand each other’s requirements better and improve teamwork. Increased agility: DevSecOps enables organizations to respond quickly to changing security threats, and compliance needs to keep applications secure and compliant.
3. Increased Agility: DevSecOps enables organizations to respond quickly to changing security threats and compliance requirements, ensuring that their applications remain secure and compliant.
4. Enhanced security: By embedding security practices into the DevOps process, DevSecOps ensures that security is built into applications from the ground up, reducing the risk of vulnerabilities and cyberattacks.

How to Implement DevSecOps

Implementing DevSecOps requires a cultural shift in the organization, as well as the adoption of new practices and tools. Here in this, security measures will be incorporated at every phase. Here are some steps to follow when implementing DevSecOps:

Step 1: Build a Security Culture

To implement DevSecOps, the organization needs to foster a security culture that emphasizes the importance of security. This involves training employees on security best practices, establishing security policies and guidelines, and prioritizing security.

Step 2: Security Tools plugins

Security tools plugins can be integrated directly into the IDE environment. This will identify the source code vulnerability. And then version control is done

Step 3: Pre-build

Pre-build will not allow any insecure data content to be kept in the repository and only in the developers’ machine. It shows Static and dynamic security code testing, code reviews and feedback while Staging environments do penetration testing and check the vulnerabilities. To implement DevSecOps, organizations must use security tools and automation to help identify and mitigate security issues throughout the development process.

Step 4 Sharing results 

The results are shared with development security and quality teams. Automation scanning is done in the production environment. 

Step 5: Security and Monitoring

Security and monitoring will enable alerts for security thresholds. DevSecOps requires continuous monitoring and analysis of the application to identify and respond to security threats. This involves implementing a robust monitoring and logging system to detect and respond to security issues in real-time.

Note: Vulnerability management is part of DevSecOps ecosystem.

DevSecOps Tools

1. IAST tools observe the run-time behaviour of web applications during manual or automated functional testing to detect runtime vulnerabilities and provide deep insight into the line of code where the problem occurs. Seeker is an example of an IAST tool.
2. SAST tools scan code for coding errors and design flaws that can lead to exploitable vulnerabilities, and are primarily used during the code, build, and development stages of SDLC. Coverity is an example of a SAST tool.
3. SCA tools scan source code and binaries to identify known vulnerabilities in open-source and third-party components and provide visibility into security and licensing risks to accelerate prioritization and remediation efforts. Black Duck is an example of an SCA tool.
4. DAST is an automated testing technology that mimics how a hacker would interact with a web application or API, examining the client-side representation of the application over a network connection to find vulnerabilities. DAST tools like Synopsys Web Scanner and Synopsys API Scanner do not require access to source code or customizations and identify vulnerabilities with a low false positive rate.

Conclusion

DevSecOps is an integral approach that helps organizations build secure and resilient software applications. By integrating security into the DevOps process, DevSecOps enables organizations to develop secure, compliant, and resilient applications for cyber-attacks. To implement DevSecOps successfully, organizations need to foster a security culture, integrate security into DevOps practices, and use security tools.

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