GUEST ESSAY: Leveraging DevSecOps to quell cyber risks in a teeming threat landscape

By Yuga Nugraha

In today’s digital landscape, organizations face numerous challenges when it comes to mitigating cyber risks.

The constant evolution of technology, increased connectivity, and sophisticated cyber threats pose significant challenges to organizations of all sizes and industries. Here are some of the key challenges that organizations encounter in their efforts to mitigate cyber risks in the current environment.

 •Rapidly evolving threat landscape. The threat landscape is constantly evolving, with cybercriminals coming up with new techniques and exploiting vulnerabilities. Organizations must stay ahead of these threats, but it can be challenging due to the dynamic nature of the cybersecurity landscape.

•Lack of security awareness and education. Often, employees within organizations lack sufficient security awareness and education. This lack of knowledge makes them susceptible to phishing attacks, social engineering, and other cyber threats.

Organizations need to invest in cybersecurity training programs to educate their employees about security best practices.

•Inadequate security testing. Many organizations rely solely on traditional penetration testing or security assessments performed at the end of the software development cycle. This reactive approach often fails to identify critical vulnerabilities early on, making it easier for attackers to exploit them.

DevSecOps encourages a shift-left approach, where security testing is integrated throughout the development process. By incorporating automated security testing tools and conducting regular code reviews, organizations can identify and remediate vulnerabilities in a timely manner.

•Legacy systems and dependencies. Legacy systems and dependencies pose a significant challenge for organizations. These systems may contain known vulnerabilities that are difficult to patch or update due to compatibility issues.

Moreover, outdated software components and libraries can introduce security risks into the overall system. Practical DevSecOps aproach promotes a proactive approach to managing dependencies and encourages the use of tools for vulnerability management and continuous integration, which can help identify and address these risks.

•Compliance and regulatory requirements. Organizations often struggle to meet regulatory and compliance requirements due to the complex and ever-changing nature of these standards. Failing to comply with these requirements can result in hefty fines and reputational damage. Implementing DevSecOps practices can help organizations stay compliant by embedding security controls into the development process, performing regular audits, and ensuring that security requirements are met throughout the software lifecycle.

Effective mitigation

To effectively mitigate cyber risks and address the challenges mentioned above, organizations can adopt the Practical DevSecOps approach. Practical DevSecOps integrates security practices into the software development process, embraces automation and continuous integration, and emphasizes collaboration between development, security, and operations teams.

By implementing Practical DevSecOps, organizations can:

•Identify and address vulnerabilities early in the development cycle.

•Promote security awareness and education among employees.

•Conduct regular security testing and code reviews.

•Manage dependencies and address vulnerabilities in software components.

•Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

•Improve overall security posture and reduce cyber risks.

For individuals looking to advance their careers in cybersecurity and demonstrate their proficiency in Practical DevSecOps, obtaining relevant certifications can provide a competitive edge.

Practical DevSecOps certifications validate a person’s skills and knowledge in implementing security practices throughout the software development lifecycle. Mitigating cyber risks in the current environment is challenging due to the rapidly evolvin threat landscape, lack of security awareness, inadequate security testing, legacy systems, and compliance requirements. However, by implementing DevSecOps practices, organizations can effectively address these challenges

About the essayist: Yuga Nugraha is abDevSecOps engineer who is focused on the research division exploring multiple topics including DevSecOps, Cloud Security, Cloud Native Security Container, Orchestration, IaC, CI/CD) and Supply Chain Security.

January 2nd, 2024 | Guest Blog Post | Top Stories