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Of course, COVID-19 is driving an incredible surge in innovations for companies adjusting to the \u201cnew normal\u201d and its related opportunities. Web traffic has skyrocketed by 25% in major cities in the months since the pandemic began[1]<\/sup><\/a>. Video conferencing has become the norm, not only for companies but for families trying to stay connected. This sudden and ongoing spike has left companies without a rock-solid DevOps strategy as they scramble to meet the new demands of business and the market. Those companies that included Security only as an afterthought and not integrated within their solution DevOps processes are struggling more than ever just to tread water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As people flock to new, immature apps, bringing with them an insatiable need for new features and capabilities, the enormous increase in usage and remote access has exposed underlying security concerns hidden in the shadows. Even before the current crisis, upwards of 90% of companies experienced some kind of Internet security breach, with only 45% being confident that they had stopped the leak.[2]<\/sup><\/a> Zoom experienced well over a 500% increase in usage and, even as a modern software platform, was still not prepared for new security threats.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Communications, project management, strategy, planning, finance, marketing, and engineering are all different when the personnel is not in the adjacent cubicles, let alone the same building. Is it time to revisit your existing DevOps strategy and better incorporate security aspects (DevSecOps) from the ground up? Or, if you\u2019re now (re)building your DevOps strategy from scratch, are you doing so with proactively integrated Security?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Traditionally, software development engineers were separate from the operations folks who provisioned, tested and deployed production software. Driven by agile enterprises, DevOps now combines software development and operations into collaborative teams so that the creation, delivery, and operations processes for solutions happen more efficiently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The benefits of having all of these cross-functional teams communicate directly include the speed of innovation, increased frequency of releases, higher reliability, better scalability, and improved team collaboration. Continuous Integration \/ Continuous Deployment (CI\/CD) is part of most DevOps strategies and has become a best practice in modern software deployment. In simple terms, CI\/CD allows for a process flow that takes newly developed and modified software modules and functionality through an automated cycle of extensive testing and deployment. Hence, CI\/CD drastically changed the quality, speed, and scalability of software delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Newer technologies like Docker and Kubernetes container technologies have drastically improved DevOps engineers\u2019 abilities to manage rapid and massive provisioning and deployment of IT solutions. Scaling up and down application capacity (elasticity) has never been easier. Containers allow companies to place capacity anywhere in the cloud and make it event-driven to meet peak demand while actively optimizing costs. Deploying cyclical or emergency demand for resources is as simple as asking (or configuring) for the change in capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the pandemic rocked our business world, companies that had already adopted a scalable architecture saw far less disruption. But companies that were late to adopt agile approaches (such as DevOps) and to implement cloud and container management systems were in trouble amidst the business panic that ensued. They were forced to make fast and costly last-minute business model and scalability adjustments to meet shifting market needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Data requirements for a growing landscape of new disparate containers have increased the demand and deployment of microservice architectures. If you have distributed, scalable computing power, you also need a data architecture that supports this. Microservices provide single-function modules that securely access selective data sources only as needed with well-defined scalable application programming interfaces. Enabling the separation of a service\u2019s data from the broader processing of a complex application allows for more agile enterprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Companies cannot possibly move fast enough to be competitive if they are building everything themselves. A common practice is to incorporate selective open-source software into their builds and any custom development they are doing. For example, for Node.js developers, why would you write date and time functionality when you are a click away from including the popular library \u201cmoment\u201d into your build?[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The unprecedented need for business flexibility and agility amidst the pandemic market environment comes with unique and growing security challenges. The new requirements of computing and data anywhere and everywhere will create new contentious relationships between developers and operations, as well as with an organization\u2019s security function (e.g., the Chief Information Security Officer or Security department). Developers can view security requirements as restrictive or as a disruption to their innovation, while Security can view developers as potentially reckless and a liability to the organization\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Collaboration between these two previously separate functions, however, is crucial to success today, especially in light of current market adaptability and time-to-market pressures. The goal of any organization\u2019s new DevSecOps engineers (evolved from DevOps roles) should be to guide and optimize, not<\/em> to block. Security should not stifle innovation but rather provide built-in security structure to help developers meet changing and growing business protection challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Security must be a focus built into the solution pipeline from the beginning. Verizon, for example, has created developer dashboards that integrate vulnerability management with accountability to help drive home the importance of including Security in everyday decisions.[5]<\/sup><\/a> This approach is becoming an industry best practice for DevSecOps processes, no matter the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are increasingly more and better tools to assist in integrating Security into the software build cycle. Adding a policy engine that grants role-based permissions can provide a distributed means of guaranteeing who sees what and when. A policy engine can also detect malware and other nefarious players on developer, testing, and deployment machines. Many companies, like Mulesoft, IBM, and Scalr provide commercial policy engines that incorporate and enforce enterprise business rules. Other software development tools like Krugle[6]<\/sup><\/a> can help with code security analysis. Incorporating Krugle into a build gives it the ability to examine not only your internal code but also the open-source code your organization uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A deep, trusted collaboration between developers, Security, and operations can have an enormously positive impact on the overall quality and Security of a fast-growing or fast-changing organization. Integrating DevSecOps into the culture and processes of your company can have long-lasting benefits with little impact on the pace of innovation if done right. Incorporating security tools for building, testing, and deploying solutions as part of expected daily practices will embed these ideas into the organization\u2019s culture, rather than have personnel view them as an add-on that could break and cause contention. Done well, the solution innovation pipeline will be as agile as ever while proactively addressing security concerns with your DevSecOps strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1]<\/sup><\/a> “Why the coronavirus lockdown is making the internet stronger ….” 7 Apr. 2020, https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2020\/04\/07\/998552\/why-the-coronavirus-lockdown-is-making-the-internet-better-than-ever\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/sup><\/a> “Time to Move from DevOps to DevSecOps, Finds Latest CIO ….” 12 Oct. 2019, https:\/\/aithority.com\/ait-featured-posts\/time-to-move-from-devops-to-devsecops-finds-latest-cio-survey\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/sup><\/a> “Zoom CEO admits ‘missteps,’ wants company to … – CIO Dive.” 6 Apr. 2020, https:\/\/www.ciodive.com\/news\/zoom-ceo-security-privacy-concerns\/575505\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]<\/sup><\/a> “moment – npm.” 18 Jun. 2020, https:\/\/www.npmjs.com\/package\/moment<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [5]<\/sup><\/a> “3 DevSecOps success stories | CSO Online.” 26 Sep. 2019, https:\/\/www.csoonline.com\/article\/3439737\/3-devsecops-success-stories.html<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [6]<\/sup><\/a> “Home | krugle – software development productivity.” https:\/\/www.krugle.com\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mark Zuckerberg has said, \u201cIf things aren\u2019t breaking, you\u2019re not moving fast enough. People learn by making mistakes.\u201d In some regards, this is a guiding principle for agile solution development and DevOps processes. But moving fast while innovating has its downside as well: it can inadvertently allow outside forces to break or steal your \u201cstuff\u201d – your data, your intellectual … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/seamless.partners\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2020\/09\/glenn-carstens-peters-npxXWgQ33ZQ-unsplash2-1024x681.jpg\")
Making DevOps Better for These Times<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Scalability is Necessary for Business Agility<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Microservice Architecture is the Engine for Today\u2019s Agile Enterprise<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Open Source Software Still Complements What we Build<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
DevSecOps is the Natural and Necessary Evolution from DevOps<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Tools to Help Establish and Manage DevSecOps<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Conclusion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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