How can you align security and DevOps goals to achieve better outcomes?

In my experience, aligning security and DevOps goals requires adopting a security-first mindset across all stages of the development and deployment lifecycle. By integrating security practices early in the DevOps pipeline, such as code reviews for vulnerabilities and automated security testing, teams can identify and remediate issues more efficiently. This proactive approach not only reduces the risk of security breaches but also fosters collaboration between security and DevOps teams. Emphasizing continuous security education and training for all team members ensures that security remains a top priority throughout the development process, leading to better overall outcomes and a more resilient infrastructure.

Security is definitely important, especially in today's environment. However, I have seen cases where there is a disconnect between the software development teams and the security teams. In many organizations, security is mandated by a central group, and the goals of that group may not be adequately communicated to the development teams. The development teams are just told "Do it!". The security team can help to bridge that gap by providing background and training on the why the security practices are important, and how the development team is/should be part of supporting that process.

- Foster a culture of collaboration between security and DevOps teams. This involves breaking down organizational silos and establishing open and transparent communication channels to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices. - Use automation to integrate security tools directly into CI/CD pipelines. This may include static code analysis tools, dependency checking, container scanning, and automated security testing. - Define security standards as code and apply them consistently throughout the development lifecycle. This ensures that security best practices are followed consistently across all applications and infrastructure.

Security should be the first concern while building or deploying which helps us to improve the quality and safety of the app we build. Its not only an individual responsibility to check the source that we use. Each and every contributor right from -- developers who use different libraries and images to build their app to -- admins / concern DevOps who is responsible to deploys the build code into different environments by enabling proper security checks / scans and deploying only after every check is passed and free from malware or vulnerabilities.

One of the essential steps in achieving stronger security that combines best DevSecOps practices is "shifting left" - it is a mentality that you need to plant into the heads of your entire personnel that has at least the tiniest access to physical and non physical hardware and software. It means planting security practices early in the software development lifecycle. It means you will feel immediately any potential weak points way before it comes expensive and life threatening. It must be happening during phase number zero. The next step is to add auto-steps in continuous integration and delivery the steps that will scan all potential vulnerabilities-it is like adding more boost to your stock engine in a good sense. Next is team work.

Aligning security and DevOps goals involves integrating security practices seamlessly into the DevOps pipeline from the outset. This includes incorporating automated security testing tools and practices, such as static and dynamic code analysis, into the continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) process. Implementing infrastructure as code (IaC) and configuration management tools with security configurations built-in ensures consistent security posture across environments. Additionally, fostering a culture of collaboration between security, development, and operations teams encourages shared responsibility for security and facilitates proactive risk mitigation throughout the software development lifecycle.

Aligning security and DevOps goals involves integrating security tools into the DevOps workflow and adopting automated security scanning within the CI/CD pipeline. Implementing infrastructure as code (IaC) with built-in security configurations ensures secure deployments. Collaboration between security and DevOps teams fosters a culture of security awareness, enhancing both security and application delivery speed.

Integrating security tools, processes, and standards into your DevSecOps pipelines is a huge benefit to any organization. The discovery of security issues happens early in the development process, not after the code has already been released to production, and software engineers gain an awareness and knowledge about coding techniques and structures that are insecure. This helps to shift the detection of security issues to the left.

DevSecOps approach helps us to align Devops and Security goals by integrating diff security tools. Few scans that we can integrate to CI-CD pipeline to reduce vulnerabilities before we deploy are: ClamAv: To scan any malware if present in our source code. Sonarqube: To analyse our code free from bugs, codesmells, duplications. Blackduck: scans list of dependencies that are downloaded as part of build. Checkmarx: Static application security testing tool(This helps to create code that is less vulnerable to compromise, which leads a secure application) Trivy/prisma: To scan Container vulnerabilities. Qualys: Dynamic application security testing (analyze web application through front-end to find vulnerabilities through simulated attacks)

The role of the DevOps team is to collaborate with teams in order to bridge gaps and create greater efficiency. Nothing impedes progress quite like security breaches. Therefore, it is vital that DevOps engineers keep security at the forefront of their minds when implementing tools and practices for continuous integration and continuous delivery. A large part of the puzzle is continuous communication to ensure the teams remain aligned in the vision and goals set by the teams. We can then decide what automation tools and security configurations need to be integrated into the workflow. Communicating areas of vulnerability to teams and working diligently to address them with automation is ideal.

In my experience, continuous communication and collaboration with security teams was the key to having a product that was both rapidly created and secure. As devops, we have access to the code developed by the dev teams and the deployed workload, which gives us global visibility and the possibility of integrating tools or best practices to secure the base, or by adopting the prerequisites put in place by the security teams. and this can only be done with continuous communication and collaboration.

To align security and DevOps goals effectively, fostering collaboration between teams is crucial. Encouraging regular communication and joint meetings allows for shared knowledge and insights. DevOps teams can learn about security best practices, while security teams can understand the DevOps workflow better. This mutual learning enhances the integration of security into the DevOps lifecycle, leading to more secure and efficient application delivery.

Aligning security and DevOps goals involves integrating security considerations into the DevOps process from the outset. By setting common objectives that prioritize both speed and security, teams can collaboratively work towards achieving better outcomes. This alignment ensures that security practices are not seen as barriers but as integral components of the development and deployment pipeline, leading to more robust and secure applications delivered at a faster pace.

This is a key point for all organizations. It is becoming increasingly common to use the term DevSecOps to indicate that the DevOps and Security need to be working closely together during the entire development process. The Security team provides the expertise and knowledge about the security goals, tolerance for security risks, and recommended security tools, and the DevOps team can provide the knowledge and skills to integrate those tools into the CI/CD pipelines.

When aligning security and DevOps goals, it's essential to foster a culture of shared responsibility and continuous improvement across both teams. Regular communication, feedback loops, and joint training sessions can help bridge any knowledge gaps and ensure that security practices are seamlessly integrated into the DevOps lifecycle. Additionally, leveraging automation tools that embed security controls into the CI/CD pipeline can further streamline collaboration and enhance the overall security posture of the applications being developed and deployed.