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DevSecOps weaves security, work culture, security automation, and platform design into software development and operations. It secures software development and the software supply chain at the Department of Defense (DoD), Zoom, and many other critical infrastructure organizations. DevOps provides a methodology to deliver better software faster. They are more than just buzzwords. They drive modern software development and are essential for securing the software development lifecycle. Cutting through the hype, we reached out to Vinh Lam, Senior Technical Program Manager at OPSWAT, to share front-line insights into these popular topics.
While both approaches share similarities, "they have distinct focuses and methods," says Lam, "DevOps emphasizes collaboration between development and operations teams to streamline the software development lifecycle, while DevSecOps integrates security throughout the entire process."
Guided by expert advice, this article comprehensively compares DevOps and DevSecOps, highlighting their differences and exploring the process for transitioning to a more secure software development process.
Streamlines the collaboration between software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops).
Adds a security (Sec) dimension to the DevOps approach, integrating security aspects at all software development and operation stages.
Culture and Team Involvement
Encourages collaboration between development and operations teams.
Promotes collaboration among development, operations, and security teams. Security is a shared responsibility.
Security Integration
Security checks often implemented towards the end of the development process or as a separate process.
Security is embedded from the project's inception and integrated throughout all phases of the development process ('shift-left').
Benefits
Faster and more reliable software delivery due to efficient collaboration and automation.
All the benefits of DevOps, plus early and continuous identification and mitigation of security issues, leading to more secure and reliable products.
Challenges
Requires cultural change and training for effective collaboration. Teams sometimes overlook security.
Similar to DevOps, but with the added challenges of integrating security practices and overcoming potential resistance to the 'security by all' philosophy.
Tools
Tools primarily facilitate the CI/CD process.
In addition to DevOps tools, it uses tools to automate and integrate security checks, such as code analysis tools and continuous security monitoring.
What is DevOps?
The Origin and Evolution of DevOps
As far as engineering practices are concerned, the software development lifecycle is very young. In the beginning, development teams used the waterfall process for application development. This framework had shortcomings—long cycle times between deliveries, manual error-prone builds, a nightmare of integrations, and time-consuming testing cycles.
Developers replaced the waterfall process with the Agile Model made famous in the Agile Manifesto, emphasizing four key values for agile development:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change vs. following a plan
Agile development freed security teams from waterfall development's linear, siloed constraints and empowered them to collaborate and rely on self-organizing teams.
DevOps was the next logical step, driving a cultural change in software development and increasing efficiency. It integrated previously separated teams into a unified force. It promotes faster, more reliable software delivery by bridging communication, collaboration, and integration gaps.
Understanding the DevOps Lifecycle
The DevOps lifecycle encompasses several stages: planning and coding, building and testing, deployment, and operation and monitoring. This cyclical process enables continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), fostering speed, efficiency, and adaptability.
Benefits of Implementing DevOps
The implementation of DevOps comes with numerous benefits. It accelerates software delivery, enhances collaboration and communication, and promotes rapid problem detection and resolution. In essence, DevOps supports a seamless, efficient, and user-oriented software development lifecycle.
Challenges and Limitations of DevOps
Despite its benefits, DevOps has its challenges. Ensuring adequate training, managing cultural change, and maintaining security can be significant hurdles to implementing DevOps effectively.
We have to ensure that we have a software framework in the backend that is robust, scalable, and secure…to ensure that it's securely protects Zoom's development and creation of software in the backend. Zoom has been really adamant that we built a fairly secure and robust environment to ensure that our own software leverages open source.
Nick Chong
Chief Services Officer at Zoom
What is DevSecOps?
The software automated tools, services, and standards that enable programs to develop, secure, deploy, and operate applications in a secure, flexible and interoperable fashion.
DevSecOps, a derivative of development, security, and operations, adds security as a fundamental component to the software development lifecycle. By integrating security practices into the DevOps lifecycle, DevSecOps seeks to make 'security as code' a reality.
Understanding the DevSecOps Lifecycle
The DevSecOps lifecycle, similar to DevOps, involves stages such as planning, coding, building, testing, deployment, and operation and monitoring. The crucial difference is that each stage includes robust security checks and practices.
Benefits of Implementing DevSecOps
DevSecOps offers an improved security posture, early and continuous security assurance, and better compliance with security standards. This proactive approach towards security helps in identifying vulnerabilities early and mitigating risks.
Challenges and Limitations of DevSecOps
DevSecOps, like DevOps, has its challenges. These include potential resistance to cultural shifts, the necessity of comprehensive security training, and the need for continuous adaptation to emerging security threats.
DevOps vs DevSecOps: How They’re Similar
While DevOps and DevSecOps have distinct focuses and approaches, they share several similarities that contribute to their effectiveness in modern software development.
Here are some key similarities between the two methodologies:
Collaboration and Communication
Both DevOps and DevSecOps emphasize collaboration and effective communication among teams. They promote breaking down silos and fostering a culture of shared responsibility, where developers, operations personnel, and security professionals work together towards common goals.
Continuous Improvement
Both DevOps and DevSecOps embrace a culture of continuous improvement. They encourage teams to adopt iterative development cycles, gather feedback, and make incremental enhancements to the software development and delivery processes. Continuous monitoring, testing, and feedback loops are integral to both methodologies.
Shared Responsibility for Quality
Quality assurance is a shared responsibility in both DevOps and DevSecOps. Rather than having separate QA teams, all team members are responsible for ensuring the quality of the software. Integrating testing and quality checks throughout the development lifecycle can identify and resolve issues early on, leading to higher-quality software.
Customer-Centric Approach
Both methodologies place a strong emphasis on meeting customer needs and delivering value. By continuously incorporating customer feedback and insights into the development process, teams can prioritize features and improvements that align with customer expectations, resulting in more customer-centric products and services.
DevOps vs DevSecOps: How They’re Different
DevOps and DevSecOps are methodologies used in software development, and while they share many commonalities, they have distinct focuses and approaches. Let's delve deeper into their differences:
The Emphasis on Security Processes
The main difference between DevOps and DevSecOps lies in the integration of security. While DevOps focuses on the collaboration between development (Dev) and operations (Ops) to streamline the software development lifecycle, it does not inherently include security as a key component of its process.
On the other hand, DevSecOps introduces security (Sec) as a fundamental and integrated aspect of the software development and delivery process. It brings security considerations to the forefront, advocating for 'security as code' to ensure that every stage of development takes into account the possible security implications. This approach promotes the proactive identification and mitigation of vulnerabilities rather than addressing them after development or in response to a security incident.
Culture and Team Involvement
In a DevOps environment, the primary collaboration is between developers and IT operations staff to ensure continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD). The objective is to create an environment where building, testing, and releasing software can happen more rapidly, frequently, and reliably.
In contrast, DevSecOps expands this culture of collaboration to include security teams as well. In this model, everyone in the SDL is responsible for security, essentially breaking down the silos between development, operations, and security teams. The DevSecOps approach promotes a 'security by all and for all' philosophy, with security becoming a shared responsibility.
Timing of Security Integration
In a traditional DevOps model, teams often implement security practices as a separate process, typically towards the end of the SDL. This late-stage integration can lead to delays and complications, especially if you identify significant security issues.
DevSecOps seeks to address this issue by integrating security practices right from the project's inception and throughout all phases of development. This 'shift-left' approach to security means that potential issues are identified and addressed much earlier in the process, leading to more secure and reliable end products.
Tools and Automation
Both DevOps and DevSecOps utilize a variety of tools for automation and efficient process management, but DevSecOps specifically uses tools designed to automate and integrate security checks and controls. These can include code analysis tools, automated security tests, and continuous monitoring tools that help identify and manage security threats.
DevOps vs DevSecOps: Which One to Choose?
Choosing between DevOps and DevSecOps ultimately depends on your organization's specific needs, resources, and strategic objectives. Both methods offer their unique set of advantages and operate under the shared goal of improving collaboration, accelerating delivery cycles, and driving product quality. However, they differ significantly in their approach to security.
DevOps is ideal if your organization's primary focus is to enhance collaboration between the development and operations teams and speed up the delivery process. This method enhances efficiency, breaks down silos, and fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement. By implementing DevOps, you can expect reduced deployment failures, quicker recovery from failures, and faster development cycles.
On the other hand, if your organization operates in a heavily regulated industry or handles sensitive customer data, DevSecOps might be the more prudent choice. This method embraces DevOps's benefits and infuses security into every stage of the development lifecycle. While it's true that transitioning to DevSecOps might initially seem daunting and may cause minor slowdowns in the early stages, the benefits it offers in terms of risk mitigation and regulatory compliance make it an investment worth considering.
How to Transition from DevOps to DevSecOps
Transitioning from DevOps to DevSecOps requires careful planning and implementation. Here is a checklist to guide you through the process:
Step One: Assess Current DevOps Practices
Evaluate your existing DevOps processes, tools, and culture. Identify areas where you can integrate security practices more effectively.
Step Two: Understand Security Requirements
Determine the specific security requirements and compliance standards applicable to your organization. These insights will help define the level of security integration needed in the transition.
Step Three: Promote Security Awareness
Foster a culture of security awareness by educating and training team members on the importance of security in the SDL. Ensure everyone understands their role in maintaining a secure environment.
Step Four: Involve Security Experts
Engage security professionals and experts early in the transition process. Their expertise will help identify potential vulnerabilities and develop security strategies that align with your organization's objectives.
Step Five: Review and Update Policies
Review and update your security policies to align with the principles of DevSecOps. Incorporate security practices into existing policies and ensure they are communicated effectively to the entire team.
Step Six: Integrate Security Throughout the Lifecycle
Shift security practices to the left of the development process by embedding security controls and checks at every stage, from planning and coding to deployment and operations. Emphasize proactive security measures rather than relying solely on reactive approaches.
Step Seven: Implement Security Testing
Incorporate comprehensive security testing, including static and dynamic code analysis, vulnerability scanning, and penetration testing. Automate these security tests as part of your CI/CD pipeline to ensure ongoing security.
Step Eight: Automate Security Controls
Utilize automation tools to enforce security controls and policies consistently. Automate your security checks, configuration management, and monitoring to ensure continuous security and compliance.
Step Nine: Continuous Monitoring and Incident Response
Implement continuous monitoring of your systems, applications, and network to detect and respond to security incidents promptly. Establish incident response protocols and regularly update them based on lessons learned.
Step Ten: Collaboration and Cross-Team Communication
Foster collaboration between development, operations, and security teams. Encourage open communication channels to share security-related information, best practices, and lessons learned.
Step Eleven: Evaluate and Improve
Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your DevSecOps implementation. Collect feedback, monitor key metrics, and conduct security audits to identify areas for improvement and adjust your processes accordingly.
Software Composition Analysis (SCA): A Cornerstone of DevSecOps
Software Composition Analysis (SCA) is a foundational element of contemporary application security programs. The proliferation of open-source components, while greatly beneficial in terms of functionality and rapid development, has introduced its own set of security challenges.
It's crucial to understand that not all SCA tools have the same level of efficacy or insight. The evolving landscape of software development necessitates that SCA solutions adopt a developer-centric approach.
In essence, for an SCA tool to be truly effective in today's fast-paced development environment, it should cater to two primary stakeholders:
Development Teams
SCA solutions must offer intuitive, developer-friendly tooling that easily integrates into existing workflows. This ensures that developers can continue to harness the power of open-source components while remaining vigilant about potential vulnerabilities.
Security Teams
While developers play a pivotal role in ensuring secure coding practices, security teams should have the oversight and ability to guide, train, and assist them. Modern SCA tools should facilitate this collaboration, providing security teams with the insights they need to help developers weave security protocols seamlessly throughout the SDLC.
Development and security are intertwined, and SCA has emerged as a linchpin of application security. As with all tools, however, the efficacy of an SCA solution depends largely on its adaptability to modern workflows.
The Importance of SBOMs in DevSecOps
Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) is an essential component in the DevSecOps paradigm. An SBOM provides a detailed inventory of all components—from open-source libraries to commercial components—used in an application. This transparency is crucial for several reasons:
Vulnerability Management
With a complete SBOM, organizations can swiftly identify if they are using components with known vulnerabilities, facilitating prompt remediation.
Compliance and Licensing
SBOMs ensure that organizations comply with the software components' licensing terms, avoiding potential legal complications.
Supply Chain Security
As supply chain attacks become more prevalent, having a comprehensive SBOM aids in verifying the integrity of software components and ensuring they haven't been tampered with.
Risk Management
An accurate SBOM helps organizations understand their risk posture better, allowing for informed decision-making regarding component usage and risk acceptance.
In essence, SBOMs bring transparency, control, and proactive security management into the DevSecOps process, ensuring secure and efficient software development.
Application Security Testing Methods
Development teams can utilize these methods for application security testing.
Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
Static Application Security Testing (SAST), often called "white-box" testing, is a testing methodology that analyzes an application's source code, bytecode, or binary code for security vulnerabilities without executing the application itself. The primary goal of SAST is to identify vulnerabilities early in the development lifecycle to ensure that they are addressed before the application goes into production.
Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)
Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) is a security testing technique that assesses the security of a software application by actively scanning and testing it in a running state. DAST focuses on evaluating the application from the outside-in, simulating real-world attacks and analyzing the application's behavior and responses to identify vulnerabilities.
It's worth noting that DAST has some limitations. It may produce false positives or false negatives due to the dynamic nature of applications and the challenges of accurately simulating all possible attack scenarios. Therefore, we recommend combining DAST with other security testing techniques, such as Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST), for a comprehensive security assessment.
Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST)
IAST is a security testing technique that combines aspects of both Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) and Static Application Security Testing (SAST) to identify vulnerabilities and security flaws in software applications.
Unlike traditional security testing approaches, IAST takes advantage of instrumentation or monitoring capabilities within an application to provide real-time feedback on security weaknesses during runtime. It actively monitors and analyzes the application's behavior, inputs, and outputs to identify potential security vulnerabilities.
IAST is a valuable addition to an organization's application security testing strategy, helping identify vulnerabilities and strengthen the security posture of software applications.
Conclusion
In the world of software development, the choice between DevOps and DevSecOps depends on your organization's unique needs and priorities. DevOps emphasizes collaboration and efficiency, enabling faster delivery and improved quality. DevSecOps goes a step further by integrating security throughout the entire development process, proactively identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities.
DevOps and DevSecOps are not mutually exclusive choices. Organizations can adopt DevOps and gradually transition to DevSecOps as security becomes a greater priority.
Striking the right balance between collaboration, efficiency, and security is key to unlocking the full potential of your software development processes and delivering secure and high-quality solutions.
A: Absolutely. In fact, DevSecOps is essentially DevOps with a stronger emphasis on security
Q: Is DevSecOps better than DevOps?
A: Not necessarily. It's not about better or worse but what suits your organization's needs and capabilities. If security is paramount for your business, then DevSecOps could be a better fit.
Q: What skills are needed for DevSecOps?
A: DevSecOps requires a deep understanding of both DevOps principles and a wide range of security practices. Skills in automation, CI/CD, cloud security, and threat modeling are particularly valuable.
Q: Why is security so important in the development process?
A: Security breaches can cause significant financial and reputational damage to a company. Organizations can significantly reduce their risk by integrating security into the development process.
Q: How does DevOps enhance software development?
A: DevOps enhances software development by fostering collaboration between development and operations teams, automating processes, and implementing continuous integration and delivery.
Q: How does DevSecOps improve on DevOps?
A: DevSecOps improves on DevOps by integrating security considerations into every step of the development process. This reduces the risk of security issues and lowers the cost of addressing them.
Q: What are some top tools used in DevOps and DevSecOps?
A: Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, and Puppet are some of the top toVulnerability Managementols used in both DevOps and DevSecOps.
