The rise of open source software has spurred the DevOps movement, which emphasizes collaboration between developers and operations teams to build, test and deploy software faster. DevOps aims to shorten the software development life cycle and increase the speed of delivery. To achieve these goals, DevOps teams often rely on automation.
One of the challenges of DevOps is integrating security into the software development life cycle (SDLC). Security is often a hindrance to speed and agility. It is essential to consider security at every stage of the SDLC process to avoid vulnerabilities and ensure the safety of systems and data. Here’s how to do it.
Understanding DevSecOps
If you’re wondering, “what is DevSecOps?” then it is a term used to describe the practice of integrating security into the software development process. DevSecOps aims to make security an integral part of the software development process so that it is considered throughout the entire development lifecycle.
Role of DevSecOps
The role of DevSecOps is to ensure that security is considered throughout the entire software development process. The roles include:
Ensuring that security requirements are included in the requirements gathering phase;- Security testing is performed throughout the software development process,
- Applications are deployed securely.
Types of Security
There are three different types of security that you should understand before setting out to integrate them into the SDLC process. Let’s take a look at each one of them:
Application Security
This type of security focuses on the protection of the software application itself. This includes ensuring that the application is free from vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit.
Infrastructure Security
Infrastructure security focuses on the safety of the infrastructure that the application is running on. Ensuring the servers, networking equipment, and other infrastructure components are secure and free from vulnerabilities are all the features of this type of security.
Data Security
Finally, data security is the one that focuses on the security of the data that is being used by the application. This includes ensuring the information is stored securely and protected from unauthorized access. Data security is vital, so this must never be overlooked.
What Is SDLC?
The software development process follows the SDLC, or Software Development Life Cycle. It is a process that helps to ensure that software is developed in a systematic and structured manner.
The SDLC typically consists of the following phases:
Requirements gathering
This is the SDLC’s first phase, where the software application requirements are gathered. Requirements gathering is typically done through meetings with stakeholders, who will identify the application’s needs.
Design
In the design phase, the software architecture is designed. The process here is about specifying how the different components of the application will work together.
Implementation
Once the design is complete, the software is coded in the implementation phase. The implementation phase is where DevOps comes in, as the code is typically delivered through automation.
Testing & Deployment
After the software has been coded, it goes through a testing phase. This is where bugs and errors are found and fixed. If everything looks good, the software will finally be deployed to production.
The SDLC is just one example of a software development process, but it is a significant one. When security is integrated into the SDLC process, it helps ensure that the software application is developed securely.
Including Security in the SDLC Process
Now that you understand DevSecOps and the different types of security let’s look at how to integrate security into the SDLC process.
Consider Security
The first step is to ensure that security requirements are included in the requirements gathering phase. This means that teams must consider security from the beginning of the software development process.
Ensure Security Testing
The next step is ensuring security testing is performed throughout the software development process. Security testing includes both static and dynamic testing.
Static testing can be done using tools like SAST (Static Application Security Testing) and DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing). SAST tools analyze the application’s source code to look for security vulnerabilities. On the other hand, DAST tools analyze the running application to look for security vulnerabilities.
Dynamic testing is usually done manually by penetration testers. Penetration testers try to attack the application to find security vulnerabilities.
Deploy
The third step is to make sure that the application is deployed securely. This includes ensuring that the application and its infrastructure are appropriately configured and secured.
These steps will help you integrate security into the SDLC process and create a more secure software development process.
Conclusion
Security is an integral part of the software development process. By integrating security into the SDLC process, you can help to ensure that the software application is developed securely.
Including security in the requirements gathering phase, ensuring that security testing is performed throughout the software development process, and ensuring that the application is deployed securely are all essential steps.
