MOVING TOWARDS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH DEVSECOPS

INTRODUCTION

The Enterprises worldwide are embracing digital transformation and its significant influence on business to incorporate digital technology into all parts of their operations. Digitalization fundamentally alters how businesses operate, from customer engagement to delivery and content consumption. As a result, digital transformation has become a key component of business success, overcoming challenges in innovation and thereby increasing business value.

Digitalization adopts a customer-driven and digital-first approach in all aspects of the business, including business models, customer experiences, processes, and operations. AI, automation, hybrid cloud, and other related digital technologies use data to make faster decisions, and create real-time market disruptions to modify consumer expectations and create new business prospects.

Digital transformation is using digital technologies to change the prevailing traditional and non-digital business processes and services or to create new ones to meet the transformation. Changing customer needs and expectations results in a complete change in how businesses are managed and operated while also delivering value to customers. Simply said, digital transformation is a continual adaptation to an ever-changing environment. DevSecOps: an innovative approach to comprehensive IT infrastructure management is one of the prominent approaches in the technology area, putting out new tactics to accomplish a successful digital transformation.

WHAT IS DEVSECOPS?

DevSecOps is a software industry cultural revolution that aims to incorporate security into modern application development, deployment and operation, often known as the DevOps movement. Businesses must bridge the gap between the development and security teams to embrace this transition, where security operations are automated and managed by the development teams. The rise of cloud computing, containers, and microservices paved the way for the DevOps culture, in which developers may grow the infrastructure they desire without the assistance of specialized infrastructure teams. All major cloud providers now provide APIs and configuration tools to treat infrastructure setup as code and employ deployment templates.

The seamless security testing and protection integration across the software development and deployment lifecycle is called DevSecOps. This method is related to DevOps because the primary objective is to release software faster and find any faults quickly and resolve it more efficiently. DecSecOps is a contemporary strategy that combines development, security, and operations. The primary goal is to incorporate security into the CI/CD pipeline in pre-production and production environments.

HOW IS DEVSECOPS DIFFERENT FROM DEVOPS?

The core concern of DevOps is application collaboration throughout the app development and deployment phases. The development and operations teams focus on creating shared KPIs and tools to enhance deployment frequency while ensuring application predictability and efficiency. The primary objective of a DevOps professional will be to deliver changes to an application with optimum efficiency and the slightest disturbance to the user experience. As a result, little importance is placed on mitigating security risks while focusing on delivery speed optimization, impacting the application, end-user data, and private corporate assets.

Since development teams realized that the DevOps model minimized security issues, the term DevSecOps evolved from DevOps. Rather than fitting security into the build, DevSecOps emerged as one of the strategies for integrating security throughout the development cycle. The application selection will begin at the beginning of the build rather than after the development process. With the aid of this innovative technique, it is possible to assure that apps are secure against cyberattacks before delivery to the user and remain safe throughout upgrades. DevSecOps emphasizes that developers should make code with security aids to solve security challenges that DevOps does not handle.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF DEVSECOPS IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?

With three basic motions: more software, cloud technology, and DevOps practices, digitalization has become an intrinsic element of nearly all organizations. However, the requirement for extra software raises the security threshold, making it difficult to safeguard digital assets. Cloud computing entails the use of cutting-edge technology with varying hazards, as well as the elimination or reframing of the idea of a secure perimeter. When some IT and infrastructure risks are shifted to the cloud and others are specified on a software basis, the risks will be mitigated while reinforcing the need for permission and access.

DevOps entails a shift in how software is built and delivered, shortening the cycle from developing code to providing customer value to learning from the market and adjusting to changes. The IT industry has seen rapid development over the last few years. The use of cloud platforms, shared storage and data, and dynamic apps have enabled organizations to survive and succeed by utilizing innovative applications and services. 

DevOps apps have advanced speed, size, and capability but still lack adequate security and compliance capabilities. In this circumstance, DevSecOps was brought into the business to unite development, operations, and protection under one roof. It is critical for organizations in the application development and distribution industry to prioritize security alongside development and operations. When DevOps is combined with DevSecOps, business and network administrators have real-time protection when building and delivering apps.

HOW DOES DEVSECOPS WORK?

Suppose the development team wants to incorporate security into their DevOps framework. In that case, the procedures may be carried out using the appropriate DevSecOps tools and methods. A typical DevSecOps workflow will look something like this: 

• First, the developer will write code in the version control management system.
• The modifications are then saved to the version control management system.
• Another developer will obtain this code from the version control management system and do static code analysis to find any security flaws or problems in code quality.
• The environment is then established using an infrastructure-as-code tool, such as chef. The application will then be deployed with the necessary security parameters.
• The developer will run a test automation suite against the freshly deployed application, including back-end, UI, security, VAPT, Pen Tests, and API tests.
• The application will be deployed to the production environment if it passes these tests.
• This new production environment will also need to be regularly monitored to detect any operational security risks to the system.

Businesses can work effortlessly and efficiently towards higher code quality and greater security compliance within a test-driven development environment, automated testing, and continuous workflow integration.

WHAT ARE THE RIGHT PRACTICES OF DEVSECOPS?

Businesses that seek to bring together IT operations, security teams, and application developers must incorporate security into their DevOps pipelines. The fundamental goal is to make safety a significant component of the software development process rather than adding it later in the cycle. Some of the practices that will help the DevOps process work well are:

1. Automation: DevOps is about software delivery speed, which should not be sacrificed. DevSecOps provides automated security tests and controls early in the development cycle to guarantee that apps are delivered quickly.
2. Security/Efficiency: Adding security to the CI/CD pipeline will aid in screening codes as you develop them, allowing you to spot security vulnerabilities earlier.
3. Threat modeling: This practice can aid in identifying weaknesses. Developers can detect problematic occurrences throughout the infrastructure and incorporate the necessary actions into the DevOps workflow.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF DEVSECOPS IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?

Faster delivery

The software delivery speed will improve when the security feature is integrated into the pipeline. The bugs are identified and fixed before deployment, allowing developers to focus on shipping features.

Improved security posture

Security is a feature that is included from the beginning. A shared responsibility approach helps assure security integration throughout production workloads’ development, deployment, and security.

Reduced costs

Detecting vulnerabilities and problems before deployment results in a significant reduction in risk and operating expenses.

Enhancing DevOps value

Improving overall security as part of shared responsibility is made possible by incorporating security principles into DevOps.

Improving security integration and pace

The cost and time to protect the delivery can be decreased by removing the requirement for post-development security measures.

Enabling overall business growth

Trusting in the security of established software and embracing new technologies and tactics aids revenue development and business expansion.

WRAP UP

DevSecOps ensures that security testing and protection are integrated seamlessly throughout the software development and deployment lifecycle. DevSecOps provides real-time security intelligence to the company across pre-production and production environments. DevSecOps assists you in controlling every stage of the DevOps process, allowing teams to build better, higher-performing, and more secure software more quickly and with less work.

The technology industry is rapidly expanding, and many new tools are being adopted; nevertheless, it is critical to remember that all of them must be diligently controlled with security. As DevSecOps is an ongoing process, it must be validated and deployed at each level of a new code release. Businesses must prioritize security since there is growing momentum among hackers and attackers.