Authored by Josh Lemos, leader in maintaining information security at GitLab.
DevSecOps has long been touted as a means to enhance security by eliminating barriers between development, security, and operations units and integrating security throughout the entire development process. When executed effectively, this strategy can accelerate processes, lower expenses, and lessen security breaches.
Many Australian corporations think they are implementing DevSecOps when, in reality, they have just introduced security teams and tools without achieving seamless integration or software governance. Security tools like Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), and Software Composition Analysis (SCA) can produce an overwhelming amount of vulnerability alerts, leading to frustration among security teams and developers due to excessive noise.
The central problem lies not with the organizations but with an industry that places more emphasis on identifying issues rather than enhancing processes. Simply bolting on security to existing workflows results in significant operational blockages in development processes. Without genuine integration, this method amounts to nothing more than combining DevOps with security, rather than embracing true DevSecOps.
This results in developers spending valuable time identifying and rectifying security issues, while vulnerabilities still slip through to production, sometimes undetected. This inefficient cycle, coupled with the ongoing conflict between development pace and security requirements, ultimately leads to exhaustion among both development and security teams.
Significance of Ensuring Software Supply Chain Safety
Instead, organizations should merge platform engineering and product security engineering divisions into unified processes. This fosters closer cooperation and a collective comprehension of the entire system lifecycle, enabling teams to incorporate security directly into these shared processes in a developer-centric manner that aligns naturally with the teams they serve. By ingraining security within the organization, tools function as assurances and aids for problem identification post the implementation of secure practices, rather than being solely relied upon as primary security measures.
A standardized, replicable, process-focused approach, driven by collaboration between platform and security units, instigates a fundamental change in how teams perceive their objectives. They shift from the idea of security, which promises a state devoid of danger or threat, to safety, emphasizing the creation of systems that are shielded from harm and unlikely to pose a threat. This change underscores proactive risk mitigation through deliberate, reusable design models and implementation, rather than reactive threat containment.
For instance, AirWallex, a fintech enterprise based in Australia, employs an AI-driven DevSecOps platform to integrate security into its development processes while accelerating software delivery. By embedding automated security evaluations into its Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, the company has reduced alert clutter, identified vulnerabilities at an earlier stage, and streamlined operations. Furthermore, consolidating various DevOps tools into the DevSecOps platform has enhanced collaboration, boosted transparency, increased security levels, and cut down expenses.
Essential Elements to Ensure Supply Chain Safety
The following processes, regardless of the tools used, form the foundation for systems that enhance the security of infrastructure and proprietary applications. While these controls do not guarantee a complete absence of security issues, they significantly diminish the likelihood by raising code and infrastructure safety standards:
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Infrastructure guardrails: Platform engineering practices provide standardized blueprints for deploying secure infrastructure elements, allowing developers to concentrate on application development. These blueprints enforce security protocols, such as encryption and logging, preventing common cloud misconfigurations and ensuring security observability.
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Language features and frameworks: Modern programming languages offer built-in security features that help mitigate vulnerabilities when used correctly. Enabling functions like automated memory management and strict type-checking can avert numerous potential security risks.
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Toil reduction via code generation and refactoring: Automated tools can pinpoint vulnerable libraries and dependencies, simplifying remediation through templates and basic image reductions. By leveraging AI for code review and revamping, developers can eliminate redundant dependencies, thereby lowering the attack surface and maintenance load.
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Abstract security functions: Security sidecar proxies take charge of authentication and authorization across applications, ensuring that only approved services can interact. A service mesh control plane can oversee access controls centrally, reducing application code complexities while ensuring consistent security protocols.
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Software governance: Rules such as branch protection and dual approval can be enforced programmatically to ensure multiple team members review changes before merging code. These regulations, defined in machine-readable formats, should be mandated by the CI system to maintain uniform security protocols across projects.
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The human factor: Successful deployment of DevSecOps necessitates aligning incentives and embedding security within the development workflow. By fostering collaboration through training, shared metrics, and regular interdepartmental meetings, teams can alleviate operational burdens and collectively enhance software resilience.
The Importance of Tools in DevSecOps Implementation
The suggestions outlined above primarily focus on bolstering engineering practices, which form the core of the value delivered by DevSecOps. Once teams have fortified these essentials, tools can offer verification checks as part of safety practices. For instance, local businesses can introduce dependency proxies that automatically scrutinize, authenticate, and cache third-party packages before they enter development environments.
Security tools should be integrated into CI pipelines utilizing a strategic scanning methodology that balances speed and comprehensiveness. Crucial assessments such as Secrets Detection and Software Composition Analysis (SCA) should be conducted with every commit and enforced by the CI system.
Differentiating between security products and product security is crucial, with the latter offering more substantial benefits. Development teams should adopt a platform security engineering approach, embedding security into shared processes for efficient scaling.
Once the foundational aspects are in place, teams can incorporate regular security tools for assurance and issue identification. This strategy, coupled with collaborative initiatives and aligned incentives, promotes a sustainable and scalable approach to secure software development in Australia.
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