With an increasing number of companies relying on cloud-based solutions to power their digital projects and drive future growth, quickly creating and deploying applications has never been more important. At the same time, protecting code against vulnerabilities and potential attacks might slow down the process. This combined need for speed and security has led big companies to focus more on development, security, and operations, known as DevSecOps.
But what does doing such a wide range of jobs mean? And, given their broad responsibilities, how do you know you’re working with (or as) a successful DevSecOps engineer? Read on and learn what they do, how to become one, the skills needed, and the advantages and challenges they face. Let’s take it step by step.
What is DevSecOps?
DevSecOps combines best practices for information security with the capacity to continually integrate and deploy software changes. The combination of DevOps and Sec can increase software stability, security, and quality. DevSecOps is a development approach that has evolved from DevOps.Instead of only thinking about security at the end of making things, DevSecOps makes security a part of the process from start to finish.
What are DevSecOps Engineers?
These individuals are responsible for configuring the IT structure, identifying security threats, and securing software development. Their job is very similar to that of a good deal of IT security professional roles. A DevSecOps engineer is a worker who is trained to deal with three diverse sectors that must be prioritized at each level of software development: development, security, and operations. That implies they’re involved in the software’s development, security, and compliance, as well as its ongoing functioning.
Skills Required for DevSecOps Engineer
DevSecOps engineers are like the all-around experts in the world of IT. These experts need to be good at many things, from communicating within the team to building software. They have to be skilled in a bunch of areas. It’s not easy, and the best ones stand out because they handle the complexity and challenges well. Here, we will discuss the soft skills and the technical skills required for a DevSecOps Engineer as follows.
- Must have good communication and strong collaborating skills.
- He must have a good understanding of Major DevOps tools.
- The individual should be aware of new security, threat modeling software compliance regulations, and cybersecurity threats.
- He should also have to be familiar with automated code analysis where he can find and repair vulnerabilities.
- The individual should be acquainted with Ansible, deployment systems like Hibernates, developer tools like GitHub, a programming languages such as Java & PHP.
Qualification and Experience Required
Here, we will discuss the technical qualifications and experience in the form of certifications required for becoming a DevSecOps Engineer as follows.
1. Relevant Technical Degree
To become a DevSecOps engineer, having a technical degree is usually the norm. Many of these experts have at least a bachelor’s degree in fields like cybersecurity, computer science, or computer engineering. However, degrees in math, engineering, or science can also give a solid base for a career in this area.
2. Industry Certifications
Boosting your DevSecOps career opportunities can be achieved by obtaining a DevOps certification from a well-respected institution. A certificate allows you to demonstrate the precise skills and knowledge that companies value. If an individual is without a degree, getting certifications from Cisco, CompTIA and Microsoft will help to get into this job. It is also preferred to get DevOps certifications from institutes like DevOps Foundation, DevSecOps Engineering, and many more, as they provide solid knowledge about DevOps and security methods.
Implementation of DevSecOps
A DevSecOps engineer is in charge of ensuring the security of the software development process, which includes automated scanning, code verification, and defining security policies. In this role, you’ll collaborate with operations and development teams to ensure that security is built into the program from the start and that the software environment is constantly monitored and safe. The following processes are implemented by DevSecOps engineers as follows.
- The first stage is initiated with Planning, where engineers strategically plan and aim for successful implementation.
- The next stage is Development, where the engineers in the team gather valuable sources to provide guidance and establish a code review system to enhance uniformity.
- Then in the Building stage, through tools, the source code is combined with machine code. These automated tools have multiple UIs and some of them can replace the vulnerable files with new ones.
- Then in the testing stage, the automated testing framework undergoes some testing practices in the pipeline.
- In the next stage i.e. Deployment where the engineers automate the process and increase the pace of software delivery through IaC tools.
- The next stage is Operation which is one of the crucial steps and periodic maintenance is a frequent activity in operation teams.
- The scaling stage is also one of the important steps where engineers ensure that the organizations do not have to waste their resources to maintain large data centers.
Benefits Provided by DevSecOps Engineers
The most crucial benefit that engineers provide is increasing the overall security. We can find vulnerabilities in an earlier stage of our pipeline, so we can fix them initially. Engineers help the product to be more secure and easier to sell as continuous monitoring helps in enhancing threat-hunting capabilities. Key advantages:
- Multiple teams may collaborate to come up with effective security strategies and robust security design patterns.
- Engineers also don’t need to wait for the finishing of the development cycle before running security checks, as a result, it improves the capability for product delivery.
- DevSecOps engineers are given regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ensuring compliance with industry-standard regulations provides a better framework for easier compliance.
Challenges Faced by DevSecOps Engineers
Not many organizations will allow their engineers to shift to DevSecOps leaving behind their traditional way. Since security came many times later, it may not help the predecessor software models. DevSecOps also unites the developers and security individuals who encourage the environment of collaboration. The major challenges faced are:
- Conflict arises between the two, where both teams think one team is acting as a hurdle for others. This perspective of both teams may overshadow the main principle of DevSecOps.
- Increased security may also slow down the processes and can be a hurdle for innovation. Meanwhile, developers also want to deliver rapidly to meet the demands of modern world business. These two contrasting scenarios make it hard for two teams to work as one.
- When DevSecOps engineers find any errors, they don’t go for security breaches immediately, but they look for software misconfigurations or infrastructural problems. Meanwhile, for the same, security teams thought of a potential breach. So, DevSecOps engineers have to reanalyze how they evaluate the environment.
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Conclusion
More and more companies are realizing the advantages of adding security to their DevOps methods. The field is expected to grow significantly, with a predicted growth rate of 35 percent from 2024 to 2031. Being a DevOps Security Engineer is the most sought-after and exciting job in the market. As companies want to be faster and more flexible, they’re using DevSecOps to make sure their software is safe and reaches the market quickly. DevSecOps helps by automating security, blending it into the software-making process, and thinking carefully about security. This way, companies can reduce the risks from cyber threats and keep up with the new updates in the tech world.
FAQs
What is DevSecOps?
DevSecOps combines security with continuous software development, integrating security from the start.
What do DevSecOps Engineers do?
DevSecOps Engineers are responsible for configuring the IT structure, identifying security threats, and securing software development.
What skills are required for a DevSecOps Engineer?
Good communication, knowledge of DevOps tools, security expertise, and familiarity with coding languages and tools.
What qualifications are needed for a DevSecOps Engineer?
A technical degree in cybersecurity or related fields, along with industry certifications.
What benefits do DevSecOps engineers bring to the table?
The most crucial benefit thats that DevSecOps engineers provide is increasing the overall security.We can find vulnerabilities in an earlier stage of our pipeline, so we can fix them initially. The continuous montioring helps in enhancing threat-hunting capabilities