DevOps Security

Companies are constantly trying to meet strict timelines when developing applications and that is why DevOps security is becoming favored over agile and waterfall methodologies. At this point in time, the increased emphasis on quick iterations and competitive pressures security and compliance priorities are experiencing challenges. Mostly because security tools, processes, and policies need to be modified to ensure we are still managing risk without sacrificing the competitive edge and speed of releasing new features to customers. Important to realize is Secure Development Operations that require integration of tools within the development tool chain without slowing the speed of development workflow.  

The development process is often conducted without a focus on security implementation until later stages. Surprisingly, apps and software often undergo insufficient security testing prior to release with the traditional DevOps model. In essence, a DevSecOps model integrates security throughout the software release pipeline, which provides better security measures. 

DevOps security best practices need to follow a few initiatives and technologies. Choosing a DevSecOps model ensures security models are integrated into the entire product development lifecycle. Follow the policies and governances that are easy for developers and other team members to understand and agree to. Automating your DevOps processes and tools minimizes risk, associated downtime or vulnerabilities that could arise from human error. Ensure that all devices, tools, and accounts are checked and verified under security management according to the applied policies. Vulnerabilities should be scanned, assessed, and remedied across all environments before being deployed to production. Constantly scan to identify and fix misconfigurations and potential errors in all environments.

Use DevOps secret management to secure access by having the applications and scripts call or request use of the password from a password safe. Monitor, control, and audit access as needed to reduce opportunities for internal or external attackers to escalate privileged user rights or exploit code. Verify that the network infrastructure is properly segmented into its needed zones thus reducing the traffic between zones and requiring the use of multi-factor authentication, adaptive access authorization and use session monitoring to provide oversight.