What Is DevSecOps and How Does It Work?

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Definition

DevSecOps is a vital practice in application security (AppSec) that emphasizes the integration of security from the very beginning of the software development life cycle (SDLC). By bringing security teams into the software delivery process, DevSecOps fosters enhanced collaboration between development and operations. This approach shifts security into a collective responsibility, necessitating a transformation in culture, processes, and tools across these essential teams. Everyone involved in the SDLC plays a part in weaving security into the DevOps continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) workflow.

Embedding security throughout the SDLC enables DevOps teams to produce secure applications efficiently and with high quality. The sooner security is incorporated into the workflow, the earlier potential weaknesses and vulnerabilities can be detected and addressed. This practice is often referred to as “shifting left,” as it encourages security testing to take place among developers, allowing them to resolve security concerns in their code during development rather than waiting until later stages. In contrast, DevSecOps encompasses the entire SDLC, from planning and design through coding, building, testing, and release, all while maintaining continuous feedback loops and insights in real time.

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How does DevSecOps differ from DevOps?

DevOps is fundamentally about breaking down the barriers that have traditionally separated teams. In this model, development and operations collaborate throughout the entire software application lifecycle—right from development and testing, all the way through to deployment and ongoing operations.

At its core, DevOps is built on three key pillars: organizational culture, processes, and technology. Together, these elements aim to facilitate a collaborative environment for development and IT operations teams. This enables them to build, test, and release software more quickly, nimbly, and iteratively compared to conventional software development approaches.

As stated in The DevOps Handbook, the ideal outcome of DevOps is that developers gain rapid and continuous feedback on their efforts. This allows them to quickly and independently implement, integrate, and validate their code, ultimately deploying it into the production environment with ease.

Almost all contemporary software organizations have embraced an agile-based Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to streamline the development and deployment of software releases, including updates and fixes. Within this framework, DevOps and DevSecOps each play distinct roles. DevOps prioritizes the speed of application delivery, while DevSecOps enhances that speed with a focus on security, ensuring that applications are delivered securely and swiftly. The primary aim of DevSecOps is to foster the rapid development of a secure codebase.

In the DevSecOps approach, security is woven into every stage of the SDLC, from the initial build to the final production. Here, security is a shared responsibility among all parties involved in the DevOps value chain. This model encourages ongoing, adaptable collaboration between development, release management (or operations), and security teams. In essence, while DevOps hones in on delivery speed, DevSecOps emphasizes maintaining security throughout that speed.

[ Also Read: How DevSecOps Protects Enterprise Applications and Reduces Delivery Cost]

Why is DevSecOps important?

The “Global State of DevSecOps 2023” report by Black Duck, which surveyed over 1,000 IT professionals globally, reveals some interesting trends in security testing practices. According to the findings, 53% of respondents conduct security tests on their critical applications at least once a week, while 31% do so daily. This shift suggests that automated security testing integrated with DevOps tools is becoming standard practice. Companies across various sectors are leveraging DevSecOps to eliminate barriers between development, security, and operations, thereby sustaining both development speed and security.

DevSecOps is applicable across numerous industries, including:

Automotive: It helps reduce lengthy development cycles while ensuring compliance with software standards like MISRA and AUTOSAR.
Healthcare: DevSecOps supports digital transformation initiatives while safeguarding sensitive patient information in accordance with regulations like HIPAA.
Financial, retail, and e-commerce: It addresses the OWASP Top 10 web application security risks and safeguards PCI DSS compliance in transactions involving consumers, retailers, and financial services.
Embedded, networked, dedicated, consumer, and IoT devices: DevSecOps empowers developers to write secure code, significantly reducing the likelihood of the CWE Top 25 most dangerous software errors.

This trend toward integrated security practices illustrates the growing importance of DevSecOps in maintaining both efficiency and safety in software development across all sectors.

What are the benefits of DevSecOps?

When development organizations prioritize security from the beginning, it becomes significantly easier and more cost-effective to identify and address vulnerabilities—before they progress too far into production or are released.

Here are some key advantages of shifting from DevOps to DevSecOps:

Identifying Issues Early: Addressing potential problems before they advance further in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) reduces the likelihood of them making it into production.
Accelerating Issue Resolution: By automating testing and aligning procedures through policies, coupled with effective communication between security and development teams, organizations can minimize noise from findings, prioritize tasks more effectively, and enhance the speed of remediation.
Minimizing Attack Windows: Shortening the duration between detecting and fixing vulnerabilities limits the opportunity for malicious actors to exploit them.
Enhancing Scalability: Incorporating testing within your development pipeline and managing it through automated policies allows for greater flexibility to scale operations without compromising development speed.

Which application security tools are used in DevSecOps?

To effectively implement DevSecOps, organizations should evaluate a range of application security testing (AST) tools to incorporate at different stages of their CI/CD pipeline. Here’s an overview of some widely utilized AST tools:

1. Static Application Security Testing (SAST): These tools, like Coverity® Static Analysis, are designed to scan custom or proprietary code for coding mistakes and design flaws that could lead to security vulnerabilities. SAST tools are typically employed during the code, build, and development phases of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

2. Software Composition Analysis (SCA): Tools such as Black Duck® SCA analyze both source code and binaries to uncover known vulnerabilities in open-source and third-party components. They also highlight security and license risks to streamline prioritization and remediation efforts. Additionally, SCA can be easily integrated into the CI/CD process, ensuring continuous detection of emerging open-source vulnerabilities from build to preproduction.

3. Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST): Operating in the background during manual or automated functional tests, IAST tools like Seeker® IAST monitor the runtime behavior of web applications. By observing application interactions, behavior, and data flow, these tools can detect runtime vulnerabilities and subsequently retest the findings, offering developers detailed insights down to the specific line of code. This allows developers to concentrate their efforts on the most significant vulnerabilities.

4. Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST): DAST tools simulate the actions of a hacker by testing applications through network interactions, assessing client-side rendering without needing source code access or customization. They identify vulnerabilities within web applications and APIs, maintaining a low false positive rate. Solutions such as Continuous Dynamic™ and Polaris fAST Dynamic are designed to detect vulnerabilities in various platforms, including web-connected devices, mobile back-end servers, IoT devices, and RESTful or GraphQL APIs.

By leveraging these tools effectively, organizations can bolster their security posture and integrate security more seamlessly into their development processes.

[ Good Read: What is Security Patching and Why is it Essential for Businesses? ]

What are the challenges of DevSecOps?

Implementing DevSecOps can be quite challenging for organizations just starting out. The software development landscape encompasses a range of technologies, from frameworks to languages and various architectures, each with its distinctive operational characteristics. This diversity can make it difficult for security teams to keep up with continuous testing and monitoring at the necessary pace.

Merging development tools and techniques with poorly configured security testing mechanisms can lead to fragile pipelines. These brittle pipelines are prone to failures when any component goes down or if automations don’t function as intended. If security teams aren't proactive in managing the numerous triggered events and associated policies—which can be both complex and time-consuming—this unfortunate scenario becomes all the more likely.

Moreover, risks can emerge at any stage of the pipeline. Therefore, it's crucial to integrate security checks throughout the software development lifecycle to catch new issues as early as possible. However, coordinating and managing the various security checks can be a real struggle for teams, given the complexities involved and the challenges of maintaining visibility and prioritization amidst the nuances of distributed development and the organizational structure surrounding DevSecOps.

How OpsTree Global Enables DevSecOps Implementation

Moving to a DevSecOps model should simplify security, not slow your teams down. At Opstree, we help organizations shift security left by embedding automated security controls directly into their DevOps pipelines—without disrupting development velocity. Our approach ensures security becomes a continuous, invisible layer of your delivery system rather than a separate, manual process.

We design a unified DevSecOps framework where application security, infrastructure security, and compliance are all managed centrally, while developers continue working inside their existing tools and workflows. This creates a seamless experience where security is enforced automatically and consistently across every stage of the SDLC.