Security used to be seen as the last thing software teams had to do – some responsibility left to a security team before a product was released. That won't cut it any longer. With rapid release cycles, complex infrastructures, and one misconfiguration in the cloud making the whole system vulnerable, that's where DevSecOps comes into play.
For those who have been wondering what is DevSecOps all about and how it differs from traditional security methods, here's a guide in layman's terms explaining the theory behind it, the tools available, and how it is implemented in practice.
What is DevSecOps?
What is DevSecOps? DevSecOps stands for Development, Security, and Operations and is the approach which includes implementation of security practices across all stages of the software development and DevOps processes. DevSecOps ensures the embedding of security procedures into such processes as planning, coding, testing, deployment and monitoring rather than treating the security as the last stage right before the software is deployed. Thus, DevSecOps makes it possible for developers, security engineers and IT operations professionals to detect vulnerabilities, conduct security checks and mitigate any possible risks in software delivery without slowing down the process of its delivery. In other words, what is DevSecOps can be defined as DevOps with embedded security.
Why DevSecOps Matters
● Enhances Security: What is DevSecOps enables developers to implement security measures at all stages of software development rather than postponing security issues to the last stage.
● Identifies Weaknesses in Advance: What is DevSecOps in action implies running automated security tests that detect and rectify the weaknesses of an application in advance.
● Minimizes Security Threats: The continuous testing and monitoring process allow companies to handle security threats before they evolve into severe problems.
● Speeds up Deployments: DevSecOps implementation means security verification and other procedures that go hand-in-hand with the CI/CD process but do not hinder software development.
● Facilitates Collaboration within Teams: DevSecOps integrates different teams involved in software development including security team members.
● Ensures Compliance: Continuous security verification and documentation simplify meeting organizational and regulatory requirements.
● Creates Robust Applications: The implementation of security procedures during the entire software development life cycle enables teams to develop highly secure and robust applications.
Core Principles of DevSecOps
● Shift Left Security – The process of testing for vulnerabilities begins from the coding phase rather than post-deployment.
● Automation – The automated scanning of security takes place within the CI/CD pipeline.
● Collaboration – There is cooperation among developers, operations, and security experts as opposed to isolated work in silos.
● Continual Testing – There is no cessation in testing for vulnerabilities even during production.
● Immediate Feedback – Security results are available to developers right away.
How DevSecOps Fits Into the Pipeline
The concept of DevSecOps can be explained better through understanding how security gets incorporated into each step of the CI/CD pipeline. Unlike in other cases where security checks are performed right before deployment, with DevSecOps, security gets incorporated from the very start of the development cycle.
Plan: Security needs and possible risks get defined at the planning stage.
Code: Secure coding and tools get used by developers to identify vulnerabilities while coding.
Build: Automated security tests get performed to identify any vulnerabilities within source code, dependencies, and container images.
Test: Security testing becomes part of testing which includes both SAST and DAST.
Deploy: Security policies and automated security tests make sure that only approved and secured applications get deployed.
Monitor: Continuous monitoring gets performed to identify any vulnerabilities or suspicious activities.
Respond: In case of any threats or vulnerabilities getting detected, an investigation gets performed along with a fix of the issue and updating the system accordingly.
This approach shows what is DevSecOps in practice: security becomes a continuous part of software delivery rather than a final checkpoint.
Practical DevSecOps: Applying It in Real Projects
It becomes much more understandable to explain what is DevSecOps through the prism of how security approaches work in practice. The concept of practical DevSecOps presupposes that security is integrated into the daily activities of developers and the deployment process rather than being done separately.
For instance, a developer team can use a CI/CD pipeline with security scanning included to check whether there are any vulnerabilities in each code update prior to the deployment of software. Developers will use such security tools as SAST for finding out whether the code contains any vulnerabilities, SCA for detecting vulnerable dependencies, and a container scanning tool for discovering the vulnerabilities of container images. It is also possible to find out the secrets (such as API keys and passwords) before their accidental inclusion into the code repository.
The principle of monitoring the applications after the deployment and quick response in case of the discovery of any vulnerabilities or risks in terms of security characterizes the practical implementation of DevSecOps.
Common DevSecOps Tools
What is DevSecOps is not complete without understanding what tools can be used to make security a part of the software development process at various stages. Practical DevSecOps is impossible without automation and tools which will help in early detection of vulnerabilities, protecting sensitive data and keeping security throughout the whole process of development and deployment of applications.
SAST Tools: Used for analysis of the source code in order to detect security vulnerabilities. Examples are SonarQube and Checkmarx.
DAST Tools: Used for testing the running application and detection of security vulnerabilities. Example is OWASP ZAP.
SCA Tools: Used for checking the libraries and dependencies in order to check the presence of the vulnerabilities and risks in the license. Examples are Snyk and Dependabot.
Container Security Tools: Used for scanning container images for the vulnerabilities before the deployment. The example is Trivy.
Secrets Management Tools: For the protection of sensitive information like passwords, API keys and credentials. Example is HashiCorp Vault.
CI/CD Security Tools: Used to make automatic security checks within the CI/CD pipeline.
All these tools give us an idea of what is DevSecOps.
DevSecOps vs DevOps: What's the Difference?
When one tries to figure out what is DevSecOps, it will become clear by comparing it with traditional DevOps. Both these frameworks include automation, collaboration, continuous integration, and fast software delivery; however, there is a main difference between DevOps and DevSecOps – security. Security is an inseparable part of DevSecOps processes, unlike DevOps, where it plays a secondary role.
Differences
Goal: In DevOps, the main goal is collaboration, automation, and fast delivery of software. In DevSecOps, security is added to these goals.
Security: While in DevOps security can be considered a separate responsibility and a later stage in the workflow, in DevSecOps, it is included at all the stages of the software development life cycle.
Testing: DevOps practices include functional and performance tests, while in DevSecOps, there is extra security testing like SAST, DAST, and dependency scanning.
Responsibility: In DevOps, there is collaboration between developers and operations, while in DevSecOps, security becomes an integral part of the whole team's responsibilities.
Risk detection: While in DevOps, risk detection takes place later during the release, practical DevSecOps is focused on detecting and resolving risks earlier in the process.
Compliance: DevSecOps is able to incorporate security policies and compliance directly into CI/CD pipeline.
In other words, what is DevSecOps can be defined as a step forward for DevOps and a solution that allows making security a necessary component of the development and delivery process. Practical DevSecOps allows companies to keep their development velocity while minimizing security risks.
Getting Started With DevSecOps
Should your team be unfamiliar with what is DevSecOps, then it will not make sense to try to implement an entire pipeline redesign within the first week. The approach to implementing DevSecOps should include taking it step-by-step, making gradual steps to secure development.
Audit your current development pipeline to discover the gaps in security testing.
Include one type of automated scanning at a time. The best place to start would be the inclusion of dependency scanning because it is somewhat easier to implement.
Define the threshold of security that would be used to determine whether an issue discovered would lead to a blocked build or simply a warning.
Evaluate all discovered security issues collectively rather than leaving security as a task of another department.
Increase the scope of security tests by including container scanning, infrastructure testing and other types of security scanning with each step.
Such an approach helps to better implement what is DevSecOps in practice.
Conclusion
It is necessary to have knowledge about DevSecOps to ensure quick software development while not risking security. Security will be considered in all stages of software development from planning to deployment and monitoring and help identify risks, automate security testing, and find issues early. It should be mentioned that implementing DevSecOps is not always easy because there are some difficulties associated with this process. However, teams can start by performing security scanning and then extend this process little by little.
Those who wish to develop their automation, CI/CD, cloud infrastructure, and software delivery skills can do this with the help of taking a DevOps Course.
FAQs
Q: What is DevSecOps in simple terms?
DevSecOps means embedding security tests into all stages of software development and deployment process instead of treating security as the last one.
Q: Is DevSecOps a tool or a methodology?
DevSecOps is neither a tool nor a single methodology. DevSecOps involves using a set of different tools (SAST, DAST, SCA and others).
Q: Who is responsible for DevSecOps within a team?
Everybody — developers, operations specialists, and security people.
Q: Does a small team require DevSecOps?
Yes. Small teams will also find useful automatic scanning of dependencies and secrets as early as possible because fixes later become more costly.
Q: What should I do first to adopt DevSecOps approach?
First of all you should add just one security test to your current CI/CD pipeline.
