How to Boost Application Security with DevOps? Know the DevOps lifecycle & DevOps Security Best Practices
The introduction of DevOps began when the software development and IT operations communities raised concerns about the traditional software development model. As a result, developers wrote code and were responsible for supporting and deploying the code.
The term DevOps comes from combining two words, i.e., development and operations. DevOps is a set of practices that aims to reduce the systems development life cycle and improves an organization’s ability to deliver applications and services at high speed and scale.
With the world rapidly progressing towards digitalization, it has created the need to enhance the security of applications and software technology.
At IDC Technologies, we have been helping organizations to integrate security testing services as a part of the quality assurance process.
This blog will highlight the idea of using DevOps for enhancing application security. It will also explain how DevOps works, the lifecycle and DevOps Security best practices.
How does DevOps Work?
Under a DevOps model, development and IT operations teams work collaboratively throughout the product lifecycle to increase the speed and quality of software deployment. This means the team working on development and the team working on operations are no longer “siloed.” Both teams unite as a single team where they work across the entire application lifecycle, from the beginning to the final stage of the product. This includes development and testing to deployment and operations with a range of multidisciplinary skills.
DevOps is a new way of working that has significant implications for teams and the organizations they work for.
The DevOps Lifecycle
Due to the continuous nature of DevOps, practitioners use the infinity loop to demonstrate how the stages of the DevOps lifecycle relate to one another. Although the loop appears to flow sequentially, it represents the need for constant collaboration and repetitive improvement throughout the lifecycle.
DevOps Security
DevOps Security is a set of practices and tools that bring together software development, IT operations and security, enabling organizations to deliver software faster while integrating security into every step of the software development lifecycle.
Using the DevOps approach and methodologies, new application functionality can be delivered more swiftly and frequently with incremental updates. The entire process of building and delivering applications is highly automated. Applications often consist of multiple microservices and are deployed in containerized and cloud environments, providing high scalability and resilience.
DevOps Security Best Practices
Adopt a DevSecOps Model
Adopting a full DevSecOps model is essential to achieving security in DevOps pipelines. In a DevSecOps environment, security teams educate developers about secure coding practices, while developers educate security teams in coding practices and details of the technology load.
Leverage Penetration Testing and Automated Security Testing
Penetration testing attempts to discover vulnerabilities in an organization's infrastructure and identify the main security gap. This will help to determine the possibilities of malicious activities and provide steps for preventing them.
Establish Security Policies
Establishing security policies helps to consistently manage security risks in enterprise environments. It is crucial to ensure these policies are clear and easy for developers and other team members to understand and agree to. This will help teams to develop the necessary code that meets security requirements and can be implemented across the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
Automate DevOps Security Tools
It is essential to scale and accelerate security operations to keep pace with DevOps processes. You cannot scale security to DevOps processes without automating security tools for code analysis, configuration management, vulnerability management, and remediation. Automation saves time, minimizes risk arising from human error and the associated downtime or vulnerabilities, freeing developers and security teams to focus on more important tasks.
Use Vulnerability Management
Deploy a system that can help to scan, evaluate, and fix vulnerabilities throughout the software development life cycle. Operations and security teams can run tests and tools against the production of software and infrastructure to identify vulnerabilities and fix issues.
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
Privileged access management is a top priority for many organizations around the world. This is because cybercriminals continue to target privileged accounts to gain access, move around the network, and conduct malicious activities. PAM is critical to DevOps security.
It consists of the security strategies and technologies, giving you visibility to know who is using privileged accounts and what they are doing while logged in.
PAM allows organizations to secure their applications and IT infrastructure against cyberthreats by monitoring, detecting, and preventing unauthorized privileged access to critical resources. This helps organisations to run their business efficiently by maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive data and critical infrastructure.
If you need help integrating security testing services or planning to improve your DevOps model, IDC Technologies would love to assist you with your security goals.
