Dev Ops Security is Essential

Why Agile Security is Crucial in the Age of DevOps

DevOps has revolutionized the way organizations approach app development and customer feedback. But with the push for rapid releases, security often takes a backseat, leaving enterprises vulnerable to security breaches. Here are three common security issues and how enterprises can tackle them.

1. Containerization and Attack Vectors Modern app development relies on accessing information across different servers, microservices, and containers, creating a complex and highly vulnerable security landscape. Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools cannot account for unauthorized machine ID access. Enterprises must adopt identity and secret management tools that use an API-based approach to security. Akeyless, for instance, generates and automates the management of secrets, including ephemeral passwords and keys to simplify machine ID verification and access.

2. Rapid Code Changes and Excluding Security Traditional waterfall development methods were linear, but DevOps is iterative and moves at a faster pace. This creates scheduling problems when security teams review code, causing delays in production. CISOs must redefine security processes, and security must be integrated from the ground up. Developers and security teams must work together, with security functions embedded in every sprint team. CISOs should encourage the use of tools to automate and validate code, and security teams must examine environment configurations before greenlighting code migration.

3. Cloud Architecture and Secret Management Cloud architecture has greatly enhanced DevOps processes, but it poses a security risk. Most cloud service providers (CSPs) offer secret vaults for machine access to code, but these keys are controlled by CSPs themselves. HSMs can be compromised, and organizations could secure their networks but still suffer a breach because of a CSP vulnerability. DevSecOps solutions like Copado simplify code migrations between environments, and create custom release pipelines with tools for compliance and testing.

Conclusion

Agile development needs agile security to ensure high-quality products. Developers may view security as a hurdle to efficient releases, but integrating security into the DevOps pipeline will help enterprises secure their code and deliver memorable products to their customers. By adopting identity and secret management tools, encouraging the use of automated tools to validate code, and creating custom release pipelines with DevSecOps solutions like Copado, enterprises can ensure that their products are secure and of high quality.