DevSecOps is about introducing security earlier in the life
cycle of application development, thus minimising vulnerabilities. DevSecOps
aims to embed security in every part of the software development lifecycle process.
It is about embedding security controls and processes early in the DevOps
workflow.
With the move to Agile and DevOps methodologies and
continuous delivery the ability to deploy applications in the Cloud has
improved both scale and speed. Due to continuous change in technology and consumer demand,
the application security was mostly an afterthought, and at times considered to
be a roadblock to staying ahead in the race.
Automation from the start reduces the chance of errors. It’s about shifting security
left in the SDLC lifecycle. Shifting security left is about building things
that's innovative and also secure.
Integrating security into DevOps to deliver DevSecOps
requires new mind-sets, processes, and tools. When developers are writing code,
they need to have tools that checks for vulnerabilities during the local build
process. Embed the checks for vulnerabilities within the continuous
integration/continuous delivery CICD process using Jenkins so as to ensure that at
each build process, there is a security element checking that the code is
secure.
While a developer may do their best with regards to
implementing basic security checks, nobody can know in this vast
open-source world, how many software packages
contain a security vulnerability and in which of its versions. An integrated
DevSecOps solution or workflow which supports automation can help developers
spot if they are unintentionally using any open-source libraries with known
vulnerabilities, before they even begin coding the rest of the modules of a
software project, only to realise they need to start over again.
Since the open-source community has always welcomed
contributions from anyone, an unsuspecting developer already using one of the
compromised components would have no means of knowing this, unless an automated
tool was in place to be able to constantly scan their project and point out any
malicious open-source components.
Make Developers security-aware
Developers are busy and tasked with implementing a certain
functionality out of code for your users. Security may not always be their
number one priority due to limitations imposed by meeting deadlines and even
developer’s own lack of security expertise. However, with DevSecOps software
solutions, the constant ‘reminders’ about excluding certain components from
software builds, along with credible reasoning which warrants so, makes your
developers a little more interested in and aware of security every time they
see such an alert.
There is never a way of knowing whether your application or
project is totally secure from all directions. But following best practices and
automation - DevSecOps can drastically reduce risk arising from using software
components with known vulnerabilities, right from the beginning.
