As technology advances, Cybersecurity has become a critical concern for businesses of all sizes. The rise in cyber-attacks and data breaches has highlighted the need for robust cybersecurity measures to protect sensitive information and prevent financial loss. In response, many companies have started to embed cybersecurity professionals in their Development Operations (DevOps) teams to ensure that security is integrated into the software development lifecycle.
DevOps is a methodology that combines development and operations teams to improve the speed and quality of software development. Companies can ensure security is built into the development process by embedding cybersecurity professionals in DevOps teams. This means that security issues can be identified and addressed before becoming more significant problems.
Who are Cybersecurity Professionals?
Cybersecurity professionals protect information systems and networks from unauthorized access, theft, damage, and malicious activities. They work to identify potential security threats, develop and implement security protocols and policies, and continuously monitor and analyze system activity to ensure ongoing protection.
What does a Cybersecurity professional do?
In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, cybersecurity professionals play a crucial role in safeguarding IT infrastructure, networks, devices, and sensitive data. While their primary responsibility is to prevent data breaches and respond to cyberattacks, the skills, and qualities required for this role go beyond technical expertise.
Along with programming and administrative skills, cybersecurity professionals must possess critical thinking, curiosity, and a passion for learning and research. These traits enable them to anticipate and stay ahead of emerging threats and constantly evolve their strategies to outsmart hackers.
Although a background in mathematics, statistics, programming, or network administration is highly relevant to the role of a cybersecurity professional, companies should open themselves to more than just a narrow pool of candidates.
People from diverse backgrounds and experiences can bring unique perspectives and skill sets that can prove invaluable in the field of Cybersecurity. With the increasing demand for cybersecurity professionals, it is crucial to cast a wide net to attract candidates with a passion for the work and the necessary qualities to excel in the role.
What is Development, Security and Operations?
DevSecOps involves integrating cybersecurity processes throughout the entire development cycle, starting from the initial stages. This approach enables teams to review, audit, scan, and test code for security issues and address them promptly.
Addressing security concerns as soon as they arise significantly reduces the costs of resolving them. Moreover, incorporating protective technology early in the cycle prevents the introduction of dependencies that could cause security issues.
Better collaboration between development, security, and operations teams results in improved incident and problem response within an organization. DevSecOps practices facilitate faster vulnerability patching, freeing up security teams to focus on high-value work.
Additionally, these practices ensure compliance with regulations, eliminating the need for retrofits for security purposes and saving application development projects significant amounts of time and money.
By adopting DevSecOps practices, organizations can detect and mitigate security risks early, making their systems more secure and reliable. This approach also promotes a culture of security awareness, encouraging all team members to prioritize Cybersecurity in their work.
The ultimate result is better protection against potential security threats, a streamlined development process, and improved team collaboration.
What are the best security practices that should be embedded in DevOps?
To ensure a secure DevOps environment, it is essential to have a well-designed governance system and clear cybersecurity policies. The first step is to communicate these policies and procedures to the team, obtain their consent, and ensure they understand the importance of following them. This will enable the team to develop high-quality codes that meet the required standards.
Maintaining a complete inventory of devices, tools, and accounts is crucial, as it enables the scrutiny of compliance with cybersecurity policies and identifying threats and vulnerabilities. Continuous vulnerability detection and resolution are critical processes that involve scanning and evaluating codes in the development and integration environment. The codes are checked for weaknesses and patched simultaneously, with constant testing to ensure they are secure and ready for deployment.
To reduce the chances of misusing privileged access, regulating the use of secret accounts and reviewing the rights and access provided to users is essential. Access privileges should be based on each user’s need, and regular monitoring should ensure that sessions are authorized and compliant with regulations. Implementing a Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution will aid in managing privileged access.
To secure access credentials, it is essential to use specialized tools like password management tools or password safes. These tools store credentials separately and enable developers and others to request credential use without knowing the certificates themselves.
Segmenting networks effectively protects against hackers, preventing them from accessing the entire application. The default setting should be logical units for application servers, resource servers, and other assets that do not trust each other. Installing multi factor authentication, adaptive access authorization, and session monitoring ensures that only authorized users can gain access.
Automating security processes like patching, vulnerability management, code analysis, configuration management, and privileged identity management is crucial. This ensures that the security is on track and copes with the speed of the DevOps process, which is highly automated.
How does Cybersecurity help provide leverage for Development Operations?
Cybersecurity and Development Operations (DevOps) are two critical components of modern business operations, and they both play a crucial role in achieving business success. DevOps integrates software development, testing, and operations into a unified workflow, while Cybersecurity protects systems and data from unauthorized access, theft, or damage.
When these two disciplines are combined, they can provide several benefits, including enhanced security, increased efficiency, and improved collaboration. Here are some ways in which Cybersecurity can help provide leverage for DevOps:
- Improved Security: Cybersecurity threats are more prevalent in today’s interconnected world. DevOps teams can leverage Cybersecurity to identify and mitigate potential threats early on, reducing the risk of data breaches, system downtime, and other cybersecurity incidents. By incorporating security measures into their workflows, DevOps teams can ensure that security is a fundamental consideration at every stage of development, testing, and deployment.
- Increased Efficiency: By integrating cybersecurity measures into their workflows, DevOps teams can streamline their operations and reduce the time and effort required to secure their systems. This can help them to deliver products and services to customers faster, with fewer errors and bugs, and at a lower cost.
- Improved Collaboration: Cybersecurity and DevOps teams can work together to achieve common goals, such as improving the security posture, reducing risk, and enhancing the overall customer experience. These teams can leverage each other’s strengths to achieve optimal outcomes by sharing knowledge, resources, and expertise.
- Automation: With the help of cybersecurity automation tools, DevOps teams can automate the entire security process, including vulnerability scanning, threat detection, and incident response. This can reduce the time and effort required to secure systems and ensure that security is integrated into every stage of the development process.
- Compliance: Compliance is another critical consideration for DevOps teams, especially those working in highly regulated industries such as finance or healthcare. Cybersecurity measures can help these teams comply with regulatory requirements and ensure their systems are secure and compliant.
Use cases of Professionals embedded in the DevOps team
Professionals embedded in the DevOps team can bring various skills and perspectives to help improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the team. Here are some use cases of professionals that can be embedded in the DevOps team:
- Security Professionals: Security is an essential part of DevOps. Having security professionals embedded in the team can help ensure security is built into the development process. These professionals can help identify and address potential security vulnerabilities, ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, and help create and maintain secure methods and tools.
- Quality Assurance Professionals: Quality assurance professionals can work with the DevOps team to ensure that all code changes and deployments meet the required quality standards. They can also help to create and maintain automated testing processes and frameworks to improve the speed and accuracy of testing.
- Infrastructure and Operations Professionals: Infrastructure and operations professionals can work with the DevOps team to ensure the underlying infrastructure is configured correctly, maintained, and monitored. They can help ensure the infrastructure is scalable, reliable, and secure and work with the DevOps team to troubleshoot and resolve any issues.
- Business Analysts: Business analysts can work with the DevOps team to ensure that the team is focused on delivering business value. They can help to identify and prioritize features and requirements based on business needs, and can help to measure the impact of new features and releases on the business.
- Data Analysts: Data analysts can work with the DevOps team to ensure that data is appropriately collected, stored, and analyzed. They can help identify patterns and trends in data and work with the DevOps team to create and maintain data-driven processes and tools.
Pros of Professionals embedded in the DevOps team
Embedding professionals in the DevOps team can bring several advantages to the software development process. Here are some key benefits:
- Improved Collaboration: Professionals embedded in the DevOps team can work closely with developers, operations staff, and other team members to ensure everyone is aligned and working towards common goals. This can help to break down silos and improve collaboration across the organization.
- Faster Feedback Loops: With professionals embedded in the DevOps team, issues can be quickly identified and addressed. This can improve the speed of software delivery, reduce downtime, and minimize the impact of the problems on users.
- Increased Quality: With professionals such as quality assurance and security personnel embedded in the DevOps team, the team can focus more on creating high-quality code and ensuring that software is secure and reliable.
- More Efficient Processes: By embedding professionals in the DevOps team, processes can be streamlined and automated, reducing manual effort and increasing efficiency. This can help improve software delivery speed while reducing the risk of errors.
- Better Business Alignment: By embedding business analysts in the DevOps team, the team can better understand the business requirements and ensure that software development efforts are aligned with business goals. This helps ensure that software delivers real value to the organization.
- Improved Knowledge Sharing: Professionals embedded in the DevOps team can share their expertise with other team members, helping to improve the overall skill set of the team and promoting knowledge sharing across the organization.
Cons of Professionals embedded in the DevOps team
While embedding professionals in the DevOps team can have many benefits, there are also some potential cons to consider. Here are some cons of embedding professionals in the DevOps team:
- Cost: Embedding professionals in the DevOps team can be expensive, particularly if the organization needs to hire additional staff. This can be a significant investment, especially for smaller organizations.
- Integration Challenges: Integrating professionals into the DevOps team can be challenging, mainly if they come from different teams or departments. It can take time to build trust and establish effective working relationships.
- Skill Set Mismatch: Embedding professionals in the DevOps team can result in a mismatch of skills, particularly if the professionals need to gain experience working in a DevOps environment. This can result in confusion and delays.
- Overlapping Responsibilities: There can be an overlap in responsibilities between professionals embedded in the DevOps team and other teams or departments. This can result in clarity and conflict if roles and responsibilities need to be clarified.
- Resistance to Change: Embedding professionals in the DevOps team can result in resistance to change, particularly if it disrupts existing processes or requires new tools or technologies. This can slow down the adoption of DevOps practices and result in delays.
- Lack of Control: Embedding DevOps team professionals can reduce control over the development process. This can be particularly challenging for managers who are used to traditional waterfall methodologies.
Enterprises using Cybersecurity in DevOps
Indusface AppTrana
Indusface is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider that offers a comprehensive solution for safeguarding vital web applications. Their solution includes a web application scanner, firewall, Content Delivery Network (CDN), and a threat intelligence engine, all combined into one offering.
Meanwhile, AppTrana is a fully managed solution that protects applications and APIs based on a risk assessment approach. With AppTrana, businesses can continuously evaluate and enhance their application security posture, ensuring robust protection against potential threats.
ScienceSoft
Since 2003, ScienceSoft has been actively involved in the field of Cybersecurity, bringing together a highly skilled team of security and compliance consultants, Certified Ethical Hackers, SIEM/SOAR/XDR experts, developers experienced in secure software development, and certified cloud security experts.
ScienceSoft has an impressive portfolio of over 200 successful cybersecurity projects spanning 30 industries, such as healthcare, BFSI, retail, and manufacturing. The company holds ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications, guaranteeing its commitment to delivering high-quality services and ensuring complete security for its customers’ data.
ScienceSoft’s team works diligently to provide their clients with top-notch cybersecurity solutions tailored to their unique needs and requirements.
SecurityHQ
SecurityHQ is a leading Global Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) with a solid global presence. The company is well-equipped to detect, monitor, and respond to cyber threats in real time, with six state-of-the-art Security Operation Centers (SOCs) worldwide and a team of over 260 skilled analysts available around the clock.
SecurityHQ’s cutting-edge security solutions provide complete visibility and protection thanks to advanced log analytics tools that enable swift detection and response to potential security breaches. The company also leverages advanced security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) technologies, which allow efficient and effective investigation, threat hunting, and response to security incidents.
With SecurityHQ’s unparalleled expertise in the field of Cybersecurity, businesses can rest assured that their systems and data are in safe hands. The company’s proactive approach to security, with its 24/7 support and dedicated team of experts, ensures its clients are always one step ahead of potential cyber threats.
Conclusion
Embedding DevOps professionals into teams can be a challenge but offers many benefits. To ensure success, businesses should partner with experienced cybersecurity providers and use advanced tools such as web application scanners, firewalls, CDN, threat intelligence engines’ and SOAR technologies to protect their data and applications.
By doing so, companies can have peace of mind knowing their systems are secure and protected from cyber threats. Central banks should also provide financial support to help enterprises invest in cybersecurity solutions.
