Cyberattacks are increasing while software flaws are getting more widespread. In May 2024, the movie industry were hacked by SQL injection, which is a relatively recent and significant Zero-day attack. About 2650 companies have been affected by this attack.
This also demonstrates the increasing necessity of following the ‘Secure By Design approach throughout the life cycle of software development. The final product will be protected from any cyber attack through the use of security solutions for applications at every step of the development process for software.
Security Risks In Devops
DevOps utilizes an iterative development of software that allows for a more efficient and speedier delivery. Security is seen by developers as a problem as they wish to bring the program into the pipeline as swiftly as they can.
On the contrary the security team is trying to identify and eliminate all vulnerabilities that are possible. DevOps security problems begin with this conflict, and grow out. The security risks of DevOps are,
Cloud Security: the attack surface in the cloud is huge and could pose a danger of exposing sensitive information due to incorrect configuration.
Fragile Toolsets: A mixture of commercial and open-source products could expose security weaknesses.
Collaboration Gap: the risk of exposing credentials because of the operations and development team gap in collaboration.
Containers that are not trusted: Publicly available container images may be harmful.
Security is often seen as an afterthought, rather than an integral aspect. This can impact the fast-paced DevOps process and also compromise the security of the application. Secure-by-Design was created to address these issues and ensure security for web-based applications from design to operational.
How To Build A Secure-By-Design Devops Pipeline
DevSecOps ensures security is integrated into each stage of SDLC and that the software is secure from vulnerabilities throughout its duration, and enhances the overall security. This is a comprehensive breakdown of how to integrate security into the DevOps process.
Plan And Develop
Employ a shift-left method and shift security-related activities earlier in the process of development. This allows you to recognize and mitigate potential risks in the beginning of. Develop a threat model and examine the risks that could compromise the security of web applications. The threat model can help identify the weak points and identify the risk areas.
A clear understanding of functional and security requirements are essential when planning. Make sure that the developers are trained with security-conscious code practices that will aid them in writing code while adhering to security requirements and making the code immune to common attacks such as SQL injection as well as XSS by the default.
Build And Code
In the initial phase of development use Static Application Security Testing tools to examine the code and not run it. Use SAST in conjunction by using Dynamic Application Security Testing tools that can aid in identifying security vulnerabilities early.
Integrate automated security checks into the build process to check the code on a regular basis and when modifications are made. If your application makes use of containers, check them for weaknesses and make sure that the containers’ libraries are safe. Also, make sure that the images in the container are authenticated and verified to avoid unauthorized changes.
Test And Deploy
Before deploying the application, tests like smoke and API tests should be run to verify that the security system is functioning. Smoke testing provides feedback about the operation of crucial capabilities and features of the app. Testing tools for APIs can look for weaknesses in the interfaces of the application.
If there’s any error of the deploy scripts there could be a possibility of danger. Check the scripts prior to the deployment.
Monitor And Respond
Following the installation after which application security services are implemented, they implement continuously monitoring tools to monitor activities of the application and spot suspicious behaviors. Create a central log system for security-related information and to identify security concerns.
Review security logs at a real-time rate with SIEM. This helps in responding to security issues quicker. Make use of security tools that detect suspicious activity, security breaches, or data exfiltration attempts. This can help you take proactive steps to correct any issues.
Implementing security at every stage in the DevOps pipeline The gap between security and developer teams will be closed and we can be sure that the software developed in the final stage of the process is secured from the start.
5 Crucial Benefits Of Secure-By-Design
Secure-by-Design integration can benefit in the DevOps Lifecycle in a variety of ways. A few of them are:
Provides Proactive Security The security threats are fixed in the moment they are identified and then prevented from becoming a threat.
Quick Software Delivery: When security problems were identified at the close of SDLC and it took some time to release. But the issue can be solved immediately which will speed up the delivery process.
Improved Collaboration: Secure-by-Design enables the operational, development, as well as security groups to collaborate. This improved communication assures that security concerns are addressed throughout the process.
Continuous Monitoring: Monitoring continuously reduces chance of an attacker to break into the security of the application.
Lower costs and risks: Fixing the security issues once the application is in use is more costly than fixing the issue during the development phase. Also, it reduces the chance of security concerns from the part of the user.
Bottom Line
As cyberattacks become more frequent, it’s the responsibility of companies to safeguard their users from all security risks. Incorporating security in the DevOps lifecycle is an acceptable way to do this.
Secure-by-design strategies make addressing security concerns simple and guarantees speedier software delivery. Additionally, it will benefit companies in a variety of ways, such as increasing security of their systems, cutting costs and increasing confidence. It also ensures that the application’s security is able to withstand any new threats.
