Why DevOps Security is Critical for Modern Software Development

DevOps security plays a pivotal role in helping organizations deliver software at speed and scale, without compromising security.

Threats such as data breaches, supply chain attacks, and compromised credentials are becoming more common—and sophisticated. Organizations need robust tools and practices to protect their pipelines and meet heightened demands for faster releases.

There’s a lot of talk about shifting security “left”—i.e. earlier in the software development life cycle (SDLC). 

Let’s explore the critical role of security within DevOps, and how its evolution, DevSecOps, helps bring security to every stage of the SDLC. We’ll also highlight some DevOps security tools from CloudBees to help your team embrace automation and maintain velocity.

DevOps security is a set of procedures and tools used to integrate security into every stage of the software development lifecycle. A DevOps security strategy aims to protect your organization’s software against vulnerabilities and threats from development through deployment and production. 

DevOps security enhances traditional DevOps practices by improving data security, as well as adding layers of automated testing, compliance checks, and monitoring to ensure the integrity of applications and infrastructure.

DevSecOps is a cultural and operational philosophy that embeds DevOps security into the entire software development lifecycle. Short for development, security, and operations, DevSecOps embraces collaboration between developers, security, and IT personnel to integrate security processes and practices from the earliest stages of development.

In short, DevSecOps is the next evolution of DevOps security. Security in DevOps was traditionally an added step at the end of the development lifecycle. The DevSecOps philosophy aims to “shift security everywhere”— i.e. proactively embed more security controls collaborations at every step of the SDLC, including production.

DevOps is a software development approach that emphasizes collaboration between development and IT operations to deliver high-quality software faster. DevSecOps takes DevOps one step further by embedding security in the approach—and ensuring that it becomes a shared responsibility throughout the SDLC.

While DevOps focuses on delivering software efficiently, DevSecOps also ensures that security is embedded in the entire ecosystem, including its people, processes, and technology.

In essence, DevOps and DevSecOps share the same foundation of collaboration and automation, DevSecOps adds a critical layer of proactive risk management, helping innovation and security evolve together. At CloudBees, we see DevSecOps as a natural progression of DevOps, empowering organizations to deliver fast without compromising safety or compliance.

DevOps security practices should be integrated into the development, delivery, and production. Here are four tangible benefits of implementing security in DevOps:

• Greater DevOps Efficiency: If an issue remains undetected all the way through to production, it takes precious development and delivery time away from internal teams. With security measures embedded throughout the SDLC, issues are detected and mitigated early and often without slowing down operations.

• Cost Reduction: According to CISQ, the cost of poor software quality in the US is at least $2.41 trillion. The accumulated software Technical Debt (TD) has grown to ~$1.52 trillion (report). The cost of fixing security and quality issues rises significantly the further you go in the SDLC.

• Security in Every Stage of Development: Security in DevOps is no longer a tack-on at the end of the process. A smart strategy will empower developers with pre-defined and built security measures from the jump.

• A More Collaborative Culture: The right DevOps security frameworks will help shift security from siloed ownership to something that everyone feels accountable for. This sets the foundation for a culture that embraces continuous, iterative improvements.

DevOps security can help organizations reap benefits across operations, budget, and culture while at the same time limiting the unexpected costs of security lapses.

Despite the clear benefits of integrating security in DevOps, adopting this approach comes with some challenges:

• Cultural Resistance: DevOps security requires every member of your development team to embrace security as part of their daily responsibilities. Team members who aren’t accustomed to this level of ownership and collaboration could require an adjustment period.

• Balancing Speed and Security: Security is a priority for the C-suite and some teams may feel slightly bogged down as they incorporate new measures and controls. This is where DevOps security tools can help automate traditionally manual security tasks.

• Visibility Across Pipelines: Ensuring complete visibility across complex, multi-cloud pipelines is essential for effective bug and vulnerability detection but can be challenging to achieve.

• Talent and Expertise: Developers, IT, and security professionals are in high demand. Finding the right people means identifying those with the right skill sets who are willing to embrace DevOps security and giving them tools that can automate manual tasks. 

Leaders should be aware of these challenges as they strive for enhanced security in their software development pipelines.

To maximize the effectiveness of DevOps security, organizations should adopt these best practices:

Security processes and practices should be addressed at every SDLC stage. From design and coding to QA testing and delivery, there should be continuous monitoring of bug and vulnerabilities with a plan in place to quickly address issues that arise..

All software components—from automation artifacts to source code—should be audited, reviewed, and revised regularly. Companies relying on open source components, such as Jenkins, should take special care given the public nature of open source code.

Processes such as quality assurance and security shouldn’t be siloed or managed by a single person. Not every person needs to be a security expert, but every team member should feel responsible for reinforcing security best practices. Team leaders can strive to foster collaborative—rather than adversarial—relationships with the rest of the team.

DevOps security mustn’t be a “one-and-done” process. Procedures should be performed continuously throughout the DevOps pipeline to reinforce safety and security. Over time, developers should adopt these practices as part of their daily routines.

DevOps security comes down to three main factors: people, processes, and technology. Scaling your security means automating and orchestrating your process with the right tools. Automation can help your team more comprehensively detect bugs and security vulnerabilities, fix them quickly, and get back to what they do best: building and shipping high-quality software.

That brings us to the next element of your discussion: DevOps security tools.

DevOps security tools that foster continuous integration, scalable infrastructure, intelligent debugging, and streamlined feature management can play an integral role in your strategy. 

At CloudBees, we believe in continuous security across the software development lifecycle. Your strategy should not only secure the code you’re delivering but also the pipeline and processes you use to get it to production.

Let’s explore four helpful tools from CloudBees:

A DevOps security strategy is only effective if teams can ensure continuous software delivery without disruptions. This is especially true during unexpected outages or maintenance.

CloudBees CI’s High Availability mode helps keep your software pipeline running by offering automatic load balancing, horizontal scalability, and seamless failover.

CloudBees’ Pipeline Explorer helps development teams perform debugging at the scale and speed they need. Say goodbye to sifting through numerous logs to pinpoint root causes!

Pipeline Explorer allows users to trace related builds to more easily identify issues, navigate logs and pipeline states instantly, jump right to specific errors and failed stages, and easily share log snippets to enhance cross-functional communication.

Software development teams are increasingly looking for ways to augment their QA efforts with intelligent AI. 

Launchable by CloudBees uses machine learning to identify and prioritize the most impactful tests, reducing the manual effort required to test software and shortening test cycles. Instead of wasting time running tests that don’t matter—or tests with inconsistent results that complicate debugging efforts—teams can automate the testing process to work more efficiently.

Modern software systems often struggle with technical debt from complex dependencies and unmonitored rollouts. This can lead to hidden issues and untracked code, which in turn can be security liabilities. 

In-house feature flag systems are difficult to scale and lack the flexibility needed for advanced tasks like customer segmentation. CloudBees Feature Management streamlines feature flagging with seamless integration, configuration as code, and tools for tracking, rollbacks, and advanced deployment strategies like A/B testing.

Incorporating DevOps security practices isn’t just a good idea—it’s critical for software development. 

By adopting best practices, leveraging powerful tools, and embracing a DevOps security mindset, organizations can protect their applications, maintain compliance, and deliver value to users without compromise. 

CloudBees solutions integrate with your entire set of tools to secure code from development to deployment. We help organizations foster continuous alignment across development, security, operations, and audit using real-time control assessments. Allowing you to orchestrate testing during development and enforce role-based access control, gates, and thresholds throughout each stage of the SDLC. 

This brings developers, shared services, application owners, and lines of business together to help your team release products faster and safer.

Talk to an expert today to discover how CloudBees can equip your team with the tools to thrive in the modern software development landscape.