Benefits of Security in DevSecOps

November 26, 2022
Katie Pierce
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If you’re running a business, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of DevOps. This is a set of practices that automates the processes between software development and IT teams. This way, they can build, test, and release software faster and more reliably. In DevOps, “Dev” refers to development while “Ops” refers to operations.

DevOps is an approach to software development that emphasizes communication, collaboration, and integration between developers and IT professionals. But in recent years, a new term has emerged: DevSecOps.

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DevSecOps, being an extension of the DevOps philosophy, places an emphasis on security. In other words, DevSecOps integrates security into the software development life cycle. By doing so, security risks can be identified and mitigated early on—before they cause major problems.

The Key Difference: Security

The main difference between DevOps and DevSecOps is that DevSecOps places a greater emphasis on security.

While both DevOps and DevSecOps aim to streamline the software development process, DevSecOps does so with security in mind from start to finish. This means that security is built into every stage of the software development cycle—from planning and coding to testing and deployment.

To fully understand how DevSecOps works, you may watch this Youtube video from IBM Technology: What is DevSecOps? Here, IBM’s Andrea Crawford explains what DevSecOps is, what the benefits are, and provides use cases for employing DevSecOps principles.

Why Does Security Matter?

In today’s increasingly interconnected world, data breaches are becoming more and more common. In fact, a recent study found that the average cost of a data breach is now $4.35 million—and that’s just the average! For large businesses, the cost of a data breach can be much higher. Just think about some of the high-profile data breaches that have made headlines in recent years. The Equifax breach, for example, is estimated to have cost the company more than $1.7 billion since its disclosure in 2017.

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By implementing a DevSecOps approach to software development, businesses can help mitigate the risk of data breaches by building security into their applications from the ground up. By taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity, businesses can protect themselves—and their customers—from costly data breaches.

To help you further understand how DevSecOps can benefit your business, we’ve put together a list of the benefits of security in DevSecOps:

Security and its Key Benefits in DevSecOps

Improved Security

By integrating security into the development process, you can identify and fix potential security issues before they become problems.

Additionally, DevSecOps can help to automate security tasks, such as patch management and vulnerability scanning, which can free up time for your security team to focus on more strategic tasks.

Faster Delivery

Another benefit of DevSecOps is that it can help to speed up the delivery of new features and updates. By automating repetitive tasks, such as testing and deployments, you can reduce the time it takes to get new features and updates out to your users.

Also, DevSecOps can help to reduce the risk of errors and downtime, as deployments are typically more reliable when they are automated.

Improved Collaboration

DevSecOps can also improve collaboration between your development and security teams. By integrating security into the development process, developers and security professionals can work together to identify and fix potential security issues.

DevSecOps can also help to create a culture of shared responsibility for security, which can help to improve communication and collaboration between teams.

Improved Quality

DevSecOps can also improve the quality of your applications and systems. By integrating security into the development process, you can identify and fix potential security issues before they become problems.

Plus, by automating repetitive tasks, such as testing and deployments, you can reduce the chance of errors and ensure that only high-quality code is deployed to production.

Greater Scalability

DevSecOps can also help organizations scale their applications and systems more easily. Automating tasks enables organizations to quickly add new features or updates without having to worry about potential disruptions.

Moreover, DevSecOps helps to ensure that code changes are made in a controlled and safe manner, which makes it easier for organizations to roll back changes if necessary.

Increased Agility

Agility refers to an organization’s ability to rapidly adapt to change. By automating many of the tasks involved in software development and by integrating security into every stage of the process, DevSecOps can help organizations be more agile and respond more quickly to changes in their environment.

Greater Visibility

Finally, by integrating security into every stage of the process, DevSecOps can help organizations track their progress and identify potential problems early on. This visibility can help organizations to make better decisions about their development process and avoid costly mistakes further down the line.

Takeaway

Security is an essential part of any software development process. By integrating security into the development process, organizations can benefit from improved security, faster delivery, increased quality, and greater agility.

Additionally, DevSecOps can help to provide greater visibility into an organization’s software development process and enable organizations to track their progress and identify potential problems early on.

So if you’re not already using DevSecOps within your organization, now is the time to start!

See Also
devops
 
devsecops