How to Support Collaboration Between Security and Developers | Techsaga Corporations

Developers and security are often talked about to never go hand in hand, but a little bit of ‘shifting left’ can make a whole new difference. The nightmare for developers of trying to sort out the cybersecurity flaws at the end of the development process can come to an end by employing security tools at the end of the development pipeline and shifting security from the end of the software development to an earlier point, this will drive the efficiency across the organization and also frees up time for developers. 

The inherent improved security awareness and process in DevOps is clear when developers find that the serious flaws in cloud security could be a very basic problem 

Let’s first focus on DevOps methodology;

DevOps is for utilizing association, combination, and renovation. The term DevOps proposes a form of an Agile connection between development and information technology operations. The prime motive here is to improve the link between the two by promoting a better interchange and alliance among both of them. Simultaneously this methodology enables our customers to improve their techniques and expertise so that they can stand tall among their competitors. 

While DevSecOps sums up the cultural change that needs to happen to eliminate shortcomings. With DevSecOps development, teams working on applications are aware of how code is developed and deployed in the cloud and elsewhere, also how it is secured in operations. DevSecOps enables embedding security into everything so that all touchpoints across the software development contain a security element that is accounted for. 

DevSecOps aims for making both DevOps and security processes much more efficient and also allows for spotting possible problems beforehand. 

Opening the Lines of Communication: 

Now to mention some critical elements for success, here comes a patent one; How to break down the barriers existing between development and security teams in a positive way, empowering more collaboration and communication? Several approaches like embedding a security professional in a development team or training developers on security are result-building along with the critical step of overcoming the communication barrier. 

One of the usual misconceptions regarding security and developers is that developers only worry about delivering code and security means none to them or security is all about saying no to any request for reducing risk. Well, none of them are fundamentally true. 

Just like other teammates, the security department also dreams of the company to succeed and developers also keep in mind the security issues that arise and not just deliver code because even if they know that if something unusual happens there are significant implications that they have to avoid. 

Since open communication and mutual understanding is the key element, DevSecOps must have a toolset that is similarly integrated and capable of identifying, tracking and addressing the changes that might be happening in the organization. Organizations need to have a platform that will work on the cloud or on-premises featuring changes in cloud providers, the deployment stack, or something similar.

Leveraging the right tools:  

Due to the pandemic, there was a huge shift to the remote working of employees over the past 2 years, this increased amplified the need for cloud security as employees across the board work from home and connect to the cloud from all over. 

According to the cloud threat reports, 30% of the organizations host sensitive data in the cloud without proper security controls in place. 

With a simple lack of effective access-control restrictions, these organizations can place personally identifiable information and other critical assets at risk, which also makes data vulnerable to cyberattackers

Just as tools are essential for enabling DevSecOps, other challenges need to be resolved. While organizations encounter challenges as they speed up their digital transformation some unknown vulnerabilities arise up. 

Reframing the Mindset for Successful Collaboration

There is no easy or straight answer to make developers and security come together and resolve issues. Cultivating DevSecOps and shifting left takes time in software development. 

It’s a dual job, investing in tools that enable developers and security teams to work together. Both teams need to end their communication barrier and start working together to make their organization cope up with security issues and succeed in their respective fields. 

A secure cloud is not possible unless organizations shift left and fully embrace DevSecOps.