Cybersecurity Awareness Month: DevSecOps Puts “Security First”
The theme for the final week of Cybersecurity Awareness Month is “Cybersecurity First,” which could be the motto of many corporate security executives.
Cybersecurity should be a high priority for anything technology related, but in truth it’s often an afterthought or even neglected entirely. Many business leaders and users still view security as a hindrance—rather than something that can coexist with productivity and innovation. For others, tight budgets and resources often get in the way of prioritizing security investments.
But to build a defense against the growing number of threats, and an ever-expanding attack surface, organizations must ensure that security is a foundational part of the technology lifecycle. That is exactly what DevSecOps is all about. With this model, integrating security automatically is part of every phase of software development, from the initial design through integration, testing, deployment, and delivery.
DevSecOps is a proactive approach to security, anticipating potential threats and vulnerabilities and doing something about them before they become problematic. Software code is reviewed, audited, and tested for security issues on a regular basis, and teams address issues as soon as they arise.
Among the benefits of deploying a DevSecOps framework within the development process is that software development teams can deliver higher quality and more secure code faster. That can save organizations money in a few ways.
Keep Flaws Out of the Software Development Lifecycle
One benefit of a solid DevSecOps program is that teams can avoid the need for costly and time-consuming revisions later on in the development cycle. Without this approach, if a team needs to fix a security bug late in the development process, it might need to repeat entire steps.
DevSecOps practices can help prevent security flaws that leave users of software vulnerable to any number of threats. The costs of data breaches, malware, and other threats are significant. Research from the Ponemon Institute says the average cost of a breach today is $3.86 million.
In addition, DevSecOps can introduce repeatable processes, ensuring that cybersecurity measures are applied consistently throughout the environment.
DevSecOps also helps foster the idea that cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility. It makes security an ingrained part of the development process, even from the very beginning of the software lifecycle. Development, operations, and security team members learn to collaborate more effectively.
The Rise of DevSecOps
Not surprisingly, demand for DevSecOps is on the upswing. The global DevSecOps market is expected to reach $17.24 billion by 2028, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 24% from 2021 to 2028, according to an October 2021 study by Grand View Research.
Factors such as the growing internet penetration rate, shifting consumer preference toward online platforms, increasing adoption of the work-from-home model, and the rising frequency of cybercrime have boosted demand for DevSecOps solutions globally, the report says.
In terms of deployment, the cloud segment of the market is expected to increase over the forecast period due to benefits such as cost savings, agility, and scalability. As for organization size, small- and medium-sized companies are expected to see the highest growth during the forecast period, owing to growing awareness about DevSecOps “and the vast benefits offered by these solutions to small- and medium-sized enterprises.”
The increasing need for continuous application delivery with high security is also expected to fuel a rise in demand for DevSecOps over the period. Furthermore, the growing need for connected devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops is expected to drive the growth of the market.
With the ongoing push for strong protections against threats, embedding security into the outset of product development can be a key part of a holistic security strategy. DevSecOps literally puts cybersecurity first.
