You see your team's growth and success as being directly correlated with the size of your security operations team. But it's not just about getting bigger; it's about making sure that people are working on the right things at the right time and that their work is efficient enough to scale up without compromising quality or effectiveness. It's not enough to simply assume that your developers are safe, or even that they're competent. A 2021 Github DevSecOps survey showed that 56% of ops teams members said they are “fully” or mostly automated – up 10% from 2021.You need to go beyond this and automate the entire process of ensuring DevSecOps is being implemented correctly. In this article, I'll outline a few key steps that can be taken to ensure automated DevSecOps becomes a reality in your organization.
Eliminate opportunities for human error
An automated approach to scaling your DecSecOps can eliminate opportunities for human error, allowing you to quickly scale your security program and meet the demands of the business.
- Use automated tools to analyze code: You can use automated tools that scan code for vulnerabilities, or you can use an integrated development environment (IDE) like IntelliJ IDEA or Visual Studio Code. These tools will help you find problems in your code before they become major problems later on down the road.
- Use automated tools to scan for vulnerabilities: There are many different types of scanners out there that do this job well—some perform a full scan of an application, while others focus only on specific parts of it (for example, finding SQL injection). Some even have features that give them access rights so they can modify files without prompting anyone else first! The most important thing here is knowing how much time each one takes—how long does it take? What's left after downloading all this stuff into my computer?
Adopt a culture of continuous feedback and improvement.
It's important to get feedback from your peers, customers, and other stakeholders on how well you're doing. This can be done by collecting data from surveys or other sources, or by asking them directly for their opinions. You should also use intra-team communication as an opportunity for open discussions about what works well in your organization and what areas need improvement (e.g., customer support).
The key is that everyone has a voice at all times—not just those who work directly with users on day-to-day operations tasks like provisioning servers or scaling application servers—and that they feel comfortable sharing ideas without fear of being criticized or punished if they make mistakes along the way!
Determine key areas of risk in your organization.
The first step in scaling your DecSecOps program is to determine key areas of risk in your organization. This can be done by asking yourself some questions, such as:
- What are the most vulnerable parts of our business? These include areas where we have the greatest number of users and transactions or where we process sensitive information. If you don't know this already, ask! It's easy to get caught up in doing everything at once and not think about how things might change over time—but if you do nothing else today (or even tomorrow), take time now to identify these places where there may be a need for more security measures going forward. Once identified, create a list with details about each one so that they're easy for everyone involved--including management!
- How likely is it that someone will try something? You should also consider how long ago such an attempt occurred; what happened next; how many times it has happened recently; how often something similar happens elsewhere within your industry(s); etcetera.
Identify the risks associated with new tech.
Risks associated with new tech can be identified through a risk assessment. A risk assessment is a systematic process for identifying and evaluating the risks that your organization may face when adopting new technologies or tools. Risk assessments are typically conducted by experienced engineers, but they can also be performed by non-technical managers who have access to the same information and data as their technical counterparts.
The most important step in performing a successful risk assessment is to identify all potential risks associated with adopting new technology or tooling (e.g., security concerns). You'll want an accurate picture of what these risks are and how they might impact your business operations before moving forward with any implementation efforts
Enforce good practices through automated policies.
Once you have established a baseline set of good practices, it’s time to automate them. Automating good practices means enforcing them consistently across your organization, regardless of who is in charge or how busy someone might be. The most common way to automate DecSecOps policies is through an automated policy engine that enforces those policies on users within your organization.
An automated policy engine can detect when a user violates one or more policies and then take action against the violating user(s). You can also use a rule engine—a library containing prewritten rules for detecting violations and taking appropriate actions—to create an even more granular level of enforcement at the individual level if needed.
Automate the security audit process.
Automation is key to making your security audits more efficient, reliable, and consistent. The best way to do this is by automating the process.
Automate security audits with a tool that makes it easy for you to create reports on any given event or vulnerability within your network. For example, if an employee finds a potential access point in their network and wants to report it right away (before they forget), you can use something like Logentries or Splunk to create an automated audit report that includes all relevant details about the issue in one place so they don't have to search through hours worth of data just because they're too lazy/busy/lazy-busy/.
Use tools like Ansible or Chef cookbooks (or even plain old scripts!) which allows developers/sysadmins alike who work remotely from various locations around the globe to collaborate seamlessly without having real-time meetings every day just so everyone knows what each other's doing at all times because we're always busy anyway so let's make sure everything works correctly before moving forward."
Hold yourself accountable to a higher standard.
As the leader of your team, you are responsible for setting the bar and holding everyone else accountable. You can do this by making sure that everyone on your team knows what it is that they need to be doing to meet their goals, or by ensuring that there are clear metrics for measuring progress toward these goals.
For example, if someone has been assigned a project related to reducing costs by 20%, then they should be able to track how much money has been saved since starting this task (or at least know when it will be complete). This way, if some other project starts eating into their time or resources too much (and thus decreasing revenue), then there will still be an easy way for them to communicate with management so that they can explain why things aren't going according to plan anymore—and hopefully find solutions together before things get too bad!
Hire the right people
Hiring is a critical step in scaling your DevSecOps organization. To make sure you're getting the right people on board, here are some things to look out for:
- Skills: Hiring someone with the right skills can be challenging because they may not have experience in your industry or specialty area. If possible, try to find someone with an existing network who can refer you to potential candidates within their network (e.g., an engineer might ask friends at another company).
- Motivation: Can they get excited about what they're working on? Do they care enough about their work that they're willing to do whatever it takes—even if it means taking risks or changing course mid-project? When dealing with risky projects, sometimes employees need help motivating themselves so that they'll stay motivated throughout these projects rather than burning out before completion (which will happen if there isn't enough support from management).
- Team player: What does this person bring to the team? Does he/she follow instructions well enough during meetings so others feel comfortable asking questions during those times—and then follow through once all members agree on how best to move forward?
Partner with a managed security provider
As a developer, you’re probably familiar with the idea of security. You may have worked on a project that required some kind of security testing or risk management. But how do you scale your DevSecOps organization? What are the best practices for hiring employees who can help you meet those requirements? How do you train them, so they understand all the nuances of what it means to be part of your team? All these questions require answers and sometimes even more questions! This is where managed security providers come in handy: they can help fill in those gaps by providing not only expertise but also specialized solutions tailored to meet specific needs.
They’ll be able to guide how best to use tools such as Ansible or Chef, as well as provide training resources for engineers who might not have had any formal instruction before joining your team; managed service providers often offer this type of advanced training services (which may include classroom seminars) through their internal curriculum development teams.
Conclusion
The approach you take to DevSecOps is important - it's time to think outside the box when it comes to integrating security into your development life cycle. The benefits are huge, and not just for your IT team; you'll also see a better overall level of trust from the people who use your products and services every day.
However, we understand that some companies may be wary of adopting these new practices—and we respect your decision to keep things as they are. If so, then there’s still plenty more information available on how DevSecOps can benefit your business: check out our blog posts and other resources on our website!
