With the DevSecOps maturity model as a guide, organizations are better positioned to counter cyber threats and software quality risks, whether they manifest themselves in development or live applications.
As organizations adopt DevOps methodologies that integrate security practices or DevSecOps, standards boards create guidelines, such as the OWASP DevSecOps maturity model. Such standards provide a framework to help organizations get started on their DevSecOps journeys. But because every organization is unique and Moderna-cloud environments are so complex, such measures can also be limiting. Each DevSecOps maturity model has its unique requirements.
But whichever framework you use, there are some standard best practices to adopt and pitfalls to avoid.
What is DevSecOps, and what is a DevSecOps maturity model?
DevSecOps brings together the development, operations, and security teams in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). This approach allows teams to focus on speed and agility in software development without compromising security. A DevSecOps approach advances the maturity of DevOps practices by incorporating security considerations at every stage of the process, from development to deployment. Some essential best practices to keep in mind that formulate the perfect DevSecOps maturity model.
With a strong DevSecOps maturity model, organizations are better positioned to counter cyber threats and software quality risks in development or live applications. A robust DevSecOps maturity model helps organizations “turn left” to address software risks in development and “turn right” with problems in production.
What are the best practices that form the DevSecOps maturity model?
DevSecOps best practices provide guidelines to help organizations achieve efficient and secure application design, development, deployment, and management. The ability of organizations to effectively implement these best practices across the SDLC is known as DevSecOps maturity.
Some DevSecOps best practices include the following:
- Security by design. DevSecOps practices are based on DevOps, which ensures that security concerns come first as developers create code. Integrating security into every step of the software development lifecycle can help organizations improve the overall safety of their applications, so they can better protect themselves against cyber attacks and minimize software quality risks.
- Validation release. Response-based release validation transforms security from an independent, often manual, process to an automated release process that provides continuous feedback to the DevSecOps team. Introducing release validations in your ongoing delivery process allows automatic analysis of the quality of your new software versions and planned releases. These controls automatically detect vulnerabilities and automatically assess user risk and impact, thus avoiding false positives and helping teams focus on what matters most.
- They are educating employees about safety awareness. Organizations should train DevOps teams to understand security best practices and how to operate any new tool deployment. Developers should be aware of the third-party libraries they are using and the possible security issues that may arise. Teams must genuinely take responsibility for the security of the software, as much as the responsibility they take for the features, function, and ease of use.
DevSecOps best practices help align DevOps and security efforts by making security part of the conversation at every stage of application development and administration. Security onboarding reduces the risk of post-deployment security issues and provides greater visibility into potential challenges as they arise.
The industry standard for DevSecOps maturity
As the DevSecOps methodology becomes more ubiquitous within organizations and industries, there is a push to create more universally adopted industry standards of maturity. While there is no required standard for DevSecOps maturity, most frameworks include a multi-stage approach that provides a path to success.
The OWASP DevSecOps maturity model divides maturity (modelo de madurez OWASP DevSecOps ) into four levels, each with its approach to operations. Level 1 is the basic understanding of security practices, level 2 is the adoption of basic security practices, level 3 is the high adoption of security practices, and level 4 is the advanced implementation of security practices at scale. While this is an excellent model, it needs to include key aspects like monitoring, observability, and version validation, which are very important in DevSecOps.
Why organizations struggle to implement DevSecOps best practices
Despite the benefits of DevSecOps best practices, many companies need help implementing them at scale. Recent survey data indicates that only about 30% of organizations consider their DevSecOps practices mature. Common causes of this functional frustration include the following:
- Silo. Siloed data and operations can frustrate maturity efforts. If development, security, and operations teams can’t easily connect through shared processes and information, it’s almost impossible for security and DevOps teams to mature actively.
- Cultural issues. Many organizations also face cultural challenges that hinder the practical implementation of DevSecOps. If development teams have continuously operated in isolation, for example, creating security by design by integrating security operations or workflows is a challenge, especially when staff is comfortable with their existing processes.
- Disparate toolsets. Having more tools only sometimes translates into better results. Even when DevSecOps efforts are aligned, multiple toolsets can frustrate collaborative efforts. When a development team uses one tool, the security team uses another, and the operations team uses a third, teams tend to spend more time switching applications than creating a single solid framework.
- Fragmented data. Disparate and fragmented data naturally frustrate maturity efforts, and this data makes it almost impossible for teams to share information and make sure they have up-to-date data sets.
Where a solid DevSecOps maturity model can benefit organizations
A robust DevSecOps maturity model provides several benefits for organizations, including the following:
- Faster innovation. By combining development, security, and operations, companies can reduce the time required to create and deploy new applications while reducing the risk of security issues after deployment. The result is an improved ability to innovate. Teams can experiment with new approaches or components and quickly make changes as needed.
- Best quality software compilations. The improved visibility means teams can create better software and scroll left or right as needed. In practice, this means that teams can take on critical tasks that require their expertise while automating data-intensive security practices to optimize development.
- Reduced time to issue the identification. A better observability reduce the time for identification and remediation. In turn, the risk of possible downtime when applications are started is also reduced.
- More strategic work. Automating key processes allows teams to reduce manual tasks and focus on strategic efforts to help meet long-term business goals.
- Improvement of resource management. The combination of development, security, and operations allows organizations to identify where they spend money on repetitive tasks and where they can save resources with automation.
How to mature your DevSecOps models with continuous observability and AIOps
As environments become more complex, DevSecOps maturity often becomes a moving target. Conventional approaches to application security cannot keep up with cloud-native environments that use agile methodologies and architectures based on APIs, microservices, containers, and serverless functions. When companies have a problem under control, another blind spot arises, which challenges IT teams and potentially derails development and operations efforts.
With Dynatrace Application Security, organizations can automatically discover and address what is happening in their development and operation processes at runtime with continuous observation, making the transition from adolescent frameworks to mature DevSecOps functions smooth. Dynatrace combines the automation, AI, and enterprise-scale of the Dynatrace Software Intelligence platform with continuous runtime application vulnerability detection capabilities to deliver application security that enables DevSecOps teams to launch software quickly and securely. Dynatrace Application Security gives organizations’ IT teams more time to focus on what matters: implementing DevSecOps best practices at scale to improve efficiency and reduce security risk significantly.
