DevSecOPs – DevopsCurry

Understanding the Role of DevOps professional in 2024

Sun, 14 Apr 2024 12:11:03 +0000

Roles and Responsibilities of a DevOps Professional

Understanding the Role of DevOps is the talk of the town, there has been a lot of curiosity, discussions, brainstorming going in the software industry about it. There is also a lot of literature available online about DevOps, but still many fail to understand what exactly it is. Is it technology? Is it a process?

DevOps is a set of practices that combines both sides of the software world, Development (Dev) and IT operations(Ops). It aims to shorten the systems development life cycle and provide continuous delivery with high software quality.

Who is a DevOps Engineer?

The DevOps process is still evolving and making progress every day. As the process is still advancing and making a breakthrough, so is the role of DevOps Engineer. It is often difficult to comprehend the role as it is not confined to a single defined entity. But, to put it into the simplest terms the DevOps Engineer is a cross-functional role, the person works with the developers and Operations team to facilitate the code release in alignment with the CI/CD pipeline.

We frequently encounter this common query as “What does a DevOps engineer do?”, “What is the role of a Devops enigneer”,” What responsibilties does Devops team handle” etc.

So to answer that there is no fixed set of defined roles and resposibilities for a Devops professional, but their roles keep on changing from one organisation to another based on the requirement. However as a part of this post we have tried to cover some of the general expectations from Devops person, which again change on a need basis.

Roles and Responsibilities in the team

The DevOps process is an amalgamation of people of different roles coming together to work on a project as a team. So, the role requires a person who has knowledge of diverse fields. Lets have a look at the responsibilities of a DevOps Engineer:

1. A Software specialist
Oversee the latest technology trends and processes currently in the market. Also, analyze,reserach and implement the new requirements and develops a plan for improvement according to the market trends and customer needs. Someone who had good understanding and experience with the different SDLC phases.

2. Cloud Architect
A Devops engineer also needs to work in a cloud environment, hence experience with public clouds like AWS, Azure,GCP is required.A lso with more and more organizations following the Hybrid cloud and Multi-cloud approaches, the Devops person is supposed to have worked with different public cloud and should be able to architect Multi-cloud solutions.

3. Team Management
Involved in analyzing the issues, prioritizing and delegating the tasks to the team members. The DevOps Engineer should have thorough knowledge and experience of all stages of the product lifecycle. He should be a good team player and also a good leader so that can lead and manage the team in future.

4. Agile expertise
The DevOps role requires a thorough understanding of the software development lifecycle especially Agile Methodology. The DevOps is an extension of agile, so the inside out knowledge of that helps in implementing the DevOps lifecycle efficiently.

5.Technology Enthusiast (Tech Evangelist)
The DevOps is still growing and evolving every day with new technologies and tools.So the team requires a person who can keep a tab on changing trends in the market. Also he should have a keen interest in technology and able to adapt to technology, as and when needed.

6. Automation Expert
Automate the process end-to-end is also one the of DevOps practices. The role requires the DevOps Engineer to learn the required tools which are commonly used in the DevOps practice. Some of the popular tools are Jenkins, Git, Selenium, Docker, Ansible,Terraform.

7. A Handy Programmer
Ability to write and develop applications using coding languages. The DevOps Engineer should possess strong logical skills as the team might need assistance from development to quick fixes in the code. It is good and advisable for a Devops engineer to have familiarity with at least one of the programming languages like Python, Golang,Java etc.

8. Testing/QA skills
The DevOps Engineer role requires the person to have a good understanding of quality assurance. The role might require to occasionally performing some QA activities involving the framework. Understanding of the QA tools is a big plus as it helps to mitigate the problems faced by the QA team.

9. Deployment strategist
The DevOps Engineer should possess a strong knowledge of continuous integration practice. In simpler terms, the aspiring DevOps Engineer should have excellent knowledge of the deployment process. Some of the tasks involved in the deployment process are server configuration, maintenance, fixing integration issues.

10. Support and Maintenance
The DevOps Engineer is not limited to production deployment. To monitor the issues on the live server requires maximum attention. And to make sure that the application is glitch-free, the DevOps Engineer requires excellent troubleshooting skills.

11. Customer Centric approach
The DevOps Engineer at times are also involved in directly interacting with the end-customers and getting requirements from them.Hence a good Devops candidate should have the ability to handle and deal with global customers and get more business and revenue for the company when needed.

12.Security knowledge
Last but definitely not the least it is to ensure that the application and infrastructure is protected from any malicious attack from outside. And for that DevOps security comes into the picture also known as DevSecOps. Several parameters need to be taken into account to build a robust software application. The DevOps Engineer needs to have a stronghold on software infrastructure, cloud security, and other DevSecOps best practices.

Conclusion The DevOps role demands the aspiring Devops to be a `Master of All`. The DevOps is a promising field but requires an in-depth understanding of the software lifecycle, related tools, and the best practices in the market. The field is evolving and can be a great career option.

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An Exclusive Guide On DevSecOps

Shiwani Sharma — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 06:29:56 +0000

To understand DevSecOps, it’s essential to grasp the concept of DevOps, as they share significant similarities. DevOps is the combination of Development and Operations, while DevSecOps extends this further by adding Security to the mix. These two terms can be comprehended more straightforwardly as we delve into them. Although they both pertain to deployment and software development, their primary focus and objectives distinguish them. Let’s explore these two concepts in more depth below.

What is DevOps?

DevOps is a process that integrates IT operations, practices, tools, and software development to enhance software’s key attributes and enable continuous delivery. It emphasizes the transition to programmable infrastructure, cost optimization, and industrialization, promoting collaboration and communication within a company. DevOps involves several procedures, including the use of CI/CD tools (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery), task automation, and the adoption of methodologies like Microservices, Containers, and Infrastructure as Code. DevOps is not a technology but rather a set of practices that unite software development and operations, ultimately boosting application speed and quality.

What is DevSecOps?

Wikipedia Definition of DevSecOps are as follow:

DevSecOps is an augmentation of DevOps to allow for security practices to be integrated into the DevOps approach. Contrary to a traditional centralized security team model, each delivery team is empowered to factor in the correct security controls into their software delivery.

Image Credit: https://johnhoelscher.medium.com/what-is-devsecops-devsecops-defined-explained-and-explored-455df10b1924

DevSecOps, on the other hand, is a blend of development, security, and operations. It is specifically focused on constructing a more secure deployment pipeline and fostering agile software development by incorporating security considerations from the inception of the development lifecycle. In the context of DevOps, DevSecOps is a set of practices and principles that merge security into the process. It advocates a “shift left” approach, which means integrating security early in the development process rather than treating it as a separate phase. Automation is a pivotal element of DevSecOps, meeting the need for a more secure deployment and software development process in an ever-changing and challenging technological landscape. By introducing security in the realms of development and operations, the entire organization benefits by delivering software faster while reducing security risks.

What is Secret Management?

Secret management is the practice of controlling, distributing, and storing access to sensitive information, such as credentials, passwords, API keys, and encryption keys. Its primary focus is safeguarding this information from unauthorized access and potential security threats. Secret management tools also facilitate versioning of secrets, enabling users to revert to previous versions when necessary, which can be vital for recovery in the event of a security incident. In modern, cloud-based, and microservices architectures, where applications require access to various credentials to communicate with multiple components, secret management plays a crucial role.

Challenges To Secrete Management

In simpler terms, secret management revolves around the management of critical data that must remain confidential, such as keys, passwords, and credentials. Secret management plays a pivotal role in cybersecurity by safeguarding sensitive data, such as API tokens, passwords, and encryption keys. However, several challenges emerge in this process, including secure storage, access control, audit and monitoring, and human errors. To address these challenges, organizations need to consider measures like providing training, automation, regular auditing and monitoring, and comprehensive testing. Though while doing the secrete management we have to face some challenges and these are as follow:

Secure Storage: One of the major and normal challenge is secure storage, for storing the data, it’s important to search out the secure method as like key vaults, HSMs(hardware security modules), encrypted database etc. The other thing that is important and necessary in secure storage challenges is limiting and controlling access. Executing the robust access control mechanisms to assure that only applicable system of particular individual can access secrete can be difficult, powerful environment.

Access Control: It is important to handle, who has the access to secretes and maintaining a balance between security and accessibility can be challenging. it is necessary to have access control, identity management systems, role-based access etc. Confirm the recognition of system and individuals to secrete is challenging. By utilizing a dependable authentication mechanism such as MFA(Multi-Factor Authentication) is necessary to reduces the risk of unauthorized access.

Audit & Monitoring: A difficult component of secrete management is audit and monitoring, as there work is to support the organization to track and investigate prohibited access. Audit logs can create a important amount of data, differentiate legitimate access from malicious activity is very problematic . Organization has to uses the monitoring tools and audit, conduct regular reviews of access logs and executing best practices for analysis and log management.

Human Error: Human error is also one of the important challenges of secrete management that has to faces by the organization. Some normal happening human errors are weak passwords, improper handling, accidental errors, lack of security awareness, improper disposal, insufficient monitoring, inadequate documentation etc. and for addressing these human error organization need to consider some measure and these are giving training and education to the staff, automation, doing regular auditing and monitoring, regular testing etc.

Third-Party Services: This became very tricky to manage secrete for third-party services or cloud provider.

Conclusion:

In this article, we have explored DevOps and DevSecOps, delving into the principles and practices that distinguish them. We have also discussed secret management, a critical aspect of cybersecurity, and the challenges associated with it. Understanding these concepts and the challenges they pose is essential for organizations looking to navigate the dynamic landscape of software development and security successfully. By adopting best practices and addressing these challenges, organizations can enhance the security of their systems and the efficiency of their development processes.

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Securing your CI/CD pipelines with DevSecOps in 2023

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 17:03:38 +0000

Injecting Security in your CI/CD pipelines

DevOps is well known for the path-breaking changes it has brought in the software industry. The most prominent one is to bring the Dev and Ops team together, to work in sync at all times throughout the application development lifecycle. And the second is to automate pretty much the entire CI/CD pipeline. These two have been the most remarkable transformation brought to us by the DevOps process.

DevOps has been constantly finding ways to make the CI/CD pipeline more efficient and better. Today we cipf-es.org are going to discuss DevSecOps; the process aims to put a security blanket around the entire lifecycle.

In the older processes, the security check-in the older processes for the application used to happen at the later stages usually before the deployment. This practice would result in fixing last-minute code and testing issues which in turn delays the product release.

So, to accelerate the whole process DevOps uses the ‘Shift Left’ approach. The method focuses on bringing the security practice right from the early stages of the DevOps lifecycle. The key is to incorporate test and security at the beginning ensures speedy process.

Securing the application is not which means to be done at a certain point it needs to be done at every step throughout the process. Securing the application is a continuous process that’s why it’s called Continuous Assurance.

Now the question arises what do we need to check for the security?

Automated CI/CD processes are a critical component of DevOps infrastructure. CI/CD orchestration tools like Jenkins, CicleCI, Bamboo, TeamCity,Travis,Buddy etc are increasingly deployed in DevOps processes to improve processes, facilitate faster deployment of software and product delivery, and provide continuous cost reduction.

But we also need to keep in mind that these CI/CD tools are the biggest consumers of secret and confidential data and have access to a lot of sensitive resources such as other apps and services and information like codebases, credentials and databases.

Ensuring that our CI/CD pipelines are protected and secured and cannot be compromised, is a must.Hence we need to think about the ways to protect the pipeline itself.

Security Checks for CI/CD Pipelines

There are several security checks that needs to be performed:

Source Code Vulnerabilities– This check is related to security of the software. If the source code is not protected might be subjected to potential malicious attacks.

OSS Library Vulnerabilities– Well not just source-code, there are high chances that the open source library used in the application can have vulnerabilities.

OSS Version– Open-source libraries come in handy, but there are chances that after a few years that version may be deprecated. If deprecated then there might not be any maintenance or any replacement for the library.

Identifying Compromising Credentials- there is always a possibility of human error when dealing with secrets and credentials within your CI/CD pipeline. However we now have many tools that can scan for secrets and credentials which can be accidentally committed to a source code repository.

There are several other vulnerabilities that the application might be exposed to due to libraries, code infrastructure, or any exposures. So here are some ways as how do we check for Security?

Static Application system Testing (SAST)- The testing is primarily done before code compilation. The testing method analyses the code security vulnerabilities. It is also known as white-box testing. This test happens very early in the SDLC as it helps to fix the code issues.

Active and Passive penetration test (Dynamic Analysis) – The test is described as a dynamic analysis because it checks the system response to variables/parameters that are not constant. In easy language, it checks the application behaviour with real-time values.

Infrastructure Analysis- This involves scanning the actual environment like configuration, server status to understand and analyse the actual drift and what could be the fix for the drift.

These are some of the checks that are performed by the Build/Devops team to ensure a secure CI/CD channel.

You can also refer to our posts on CI/CD, Why Jenkins is so popular and Alternatives to Jenkins.

Understanding CI/CD in a DevOps Toolchain

What makes Jenkins everyone’s favourite in 2020

Jenkins is getting Old, so what are the alternatives in 2021 ?

Security Tools for CI/CD Pipelines

There are many Devops tools available in the market to perform these tests. Let’s have a look at a few tools:

Checkmarx– Facilitates the SAST testing to analyze the code vulnerabilities in the early stages. It can be easily integrated with any CI/CD tool or environment.

IMMUNIO- The tool provides cloud based solution to protect the web application from malicious attacks. The tools is unique because it does not continuously scan the application instead it focuses on possible vulnerabilities.

Aqua Security- The tool gives the security for containers throughout the CI/CD pipeline. The main feature is that it works with all platforms and clouds very well.Aqua security helps save the day, providing container security throughout the DevSecOps pipeline.

OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) – One of the most popular tools to protect the web applications from potential threats. It produces ZAP Docker weekly which has all the common vulnerabilities listed.

Twistlock – A multifaceted tool which offers security to containers, hosts, and serverless components.

CyberArk: CyberArk provides a way to keep secrets out of your Jenkins master, off disk, and also out of source control. CyberArk provides a Jenkins plugin which can be uses to provide credentials to your Jenkins jobs at runtime. The plugin securely provides credentials that are stored in Conjur to Jenkins jobs.

WhiteSource: Another type of security risk for your CI/CD pipelines is the open-source vulnerabilities.WhiteSource is a tool that integrates into the DevOps pipeline, and runs continuously in the background, tracking the security, licensing, and quality of open source components and matching them against WhiteSource’s comprehensive database of open source repositories to provide real-time alerts

Chef InSpec: Inspec from Chef is also recommended for scanning your applications and infrastructure. Chef InSpec is an open-source (OSS) automated testing tool for integration, compliance, security, and other policy requirements.

Fortify Webinspect (MicroFocus): Fortify WebInspect is another dynamic application security testing (DAST) security tools that finds and prioritizes exploitable vulnerabilities in your web applications.

The list goes on as there are many more Devops tools available as per the need of the application.

Conclusion

So we now realise that baking security within your Devops CI/CD process is the need of the hour. With more and more organisations adopting and integrating CI/CD tools for their build, release and deployment process, keeping your CI/CD pipelines secure is more important than ever before.

In today’s world, just like quality, security is also a shared responsibility.

In this above post we have tried talking about importance of DevSecOps in your CI/CD pipeline and covered ways and tools that can help you implement standard security measures for pipeline security.

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Top 8 technology trends to keep an eye on in 2021

Namrata Joshi — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 11:04:23 +0000

Top Technology Trends for Future

Currently more than 3.8 billion population on the globe use the Internet today, which is 40% of the world’s population. We are being introduced to new gadgets and technologies every day. Now as old technologies continue to work as a base for new ones, let us talk about some of the future technology trends that are going to rule the world for good.

These trends are going to take over the internet by storm in 2021.

This post talks about some of the latest key technology trends in the software industry like Artificial Intelligence, VR ,AR, IoT, and many more. Let us dive into these trends to know about what makes them so special for the future of technology.

1. Cloud Computing 

In the simplest words, cloud computing will let you store your data over the internet, instead of your hard drive. The most common example of cloud computing is Google Drive. The data you store in the Google drive is delivered to you via Google cloud. This data is stored in the cloud only.

The majority of companies are now turning towards Cloud Technology certainly because of the great benefits of it. Companies do not need to invest in hardware and servers. Instead, they can rely on Cloud providers and save a huge amount of money and time.

But, there something even more advanced than the Cloud and everyone talking about it. It is Edge computing. Edge computing ,a concept that started from the mobile and telecom sectors has now quickly spread to almost all domains. Edge computing transformed the way data is being handled, processed, and delivered from the devices all over the world.

2. Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning 

Everyone has heard of Artificial Intelligence, especially in those Sci-fi movies. So, it is already a well-known term but it is yet to become present everywhere in our everyday life. There is no limit to the potential that Artificial Intelligence can provide us in the future.

Artificial Intelligence is present everywhere if you notice. It is in home appliances, hospitals, smartphones, military, government, and many other sectors. It is at the root of technologies like face recognition and speech recognition.

Machine Learning is an application of AI. It provides the system, the ability to automatically learn and self-improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. So machine learning is basically a part of AI. We are surrounded by Artificial Intelligence daily. That day is not far when we will be relying on AI for most of our needs.

3. Blockchain 

Blockchain has its own place in the most important technology trends for the future.Blockchain simply creates a chain of data that cannot be changed. It is data that you can only add to, not take away from or change. The center point of its security is that the data blocks cannot be altered once it is added into the chain.

As Blockchain is highly secure, it is going to be used to stop internet fraud and hacking. By 2021, institutes are developing a blockchain for preventing internet fraud and information leakage at a high scale.

Blockchain is also a good solution for providing security to IoT devices. IoT devices are not good at securing your data at a high level. Blockchain will turn the tables in the future for IoT.

4. Data Science 

Data Science helps to manage complicated data that does not make sense otherwise. This includes business data, sales data, customer profiles, server data, and financial figures.

Most of the time, this data belongs to huge data sets that are unstructured. Data Scientists convert these unstructured data sets into structured data sets. So this data can be analyzed to identify patterns and trends. These patterns will work greatly to understand everything about a company. From business performance to customer retention.

Companies are relying more on the use of these unstructured big data to leverage data science technology. Data science technology is cost-efficient, innovative, and quick if used appropriately.

5. Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented Reality or AR is one of the top technology trends of 2021. Many times people confuse AR with VR, but both are different from the core. People are more familiar with virtual reality but don’t have much knowledge of what is Augmented Reality(AR).

Augmented Reality enhances real-life views with digital images and effects. AR works with camera lenses. Popular examples of AR applications are Snapchat and Pokemon Go.

Customers are loving AR because of its infinite real-life applications. For ex. Lenskart.com provides a feature to upload your image on your website. You can try different glares and glasses and decide which suits you the best. You don’t need to go to the shop and try glasses on your face.

AR is used in many other sectors like an advanced navigation system to show the route on a real-time view of the road. In the military, pilots use AR helmets to see status of their speed and altitude.

6. Virtual Reality

Everyone is well-aware of VR. Virtual Reality has to be one of the top technology trends for 2021. It immerses the user in an virtual environment. It makes them feel as if they are experiencing the simulated environment by stimulating their hearing and vision.

The most popular VR tools are PlayStation VR and Facebook Oculus.VR is also used for educational purposes. For ex. Virtual museums, galleries, discovery centers, and theaters. Some theme parks offer a more engaging experience with the use of VR. Another widespread use of Virtual Reality is training and simulation.

But there are so many things that can be improved in VR technology. In the future, we will have an even better experience in VR.

7. Internet of Things (IoT)

Another buzzwrod, Internet of Things is the future. But what exactly is IoT? Well, it means things that are built with WiFi and can be connected to the Internet and with each other. IoT is growing every day and something new is being added to it constantly.

It is assumed by 2021, every person will have at least 4 connected devices, which will increase to 15 devices by 2030. The total market value of the IoT industry is approximately $150 billion.

IoT can be seen in smart lights, smart fridge, etc. It is also a part of our daily life in the form of smart wearables such as smart glass and activity trackers. Many small cities are adopting the Internet of Things for traffic and waste management, urban safety monitoring, and water distribution.

8. Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is an oldie but it has made a place in one of the trending technology for the future. It never went out of trend. Why? Because as long as there are hackers, there will be a high demand for cybersecurity. Hackers are always trying to perform new malicious activities.

The global market of Cybersecurity is worth $173 billion and it will increase to $270 Billion by 2026. Also, jobs in this industry are growing at a faster rate of 3x.
It is not just about businesses that are at risk. Every individual who connects to the network is at a risk. Also, small businesses are at a higher risk of cyberattacks. As per research, 61% of data crimes are targeted towards companies with less than a thousand employees.

Cybersecurity is emerging day by day. Some advanced features of cybersecurity include blockchain security, homomorphic encryption, and zero-knowledge proofs.

So these are some of the trends which we feel, are going to rule the world of technology in the coming years. That is why there are greater chances of jobs in each of these fields.

Do let us know what is your favorite technology trend so far in the comments section.

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StackRox the DevSecOps startup receives $26.5M in recent funding from Menlo Ventures

Admin-Devopscurry — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 16:30:19 +0000

StackRox, the DevSecOps startup based out of Mountain View, California has secured $26.5 Million in funding in the latest round led by Menlo Ventures. Menlo Ventures initiated the funding round with active participation from Highland Capital Partners and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise along with StackRox’s existing investors, Redpoint Ventures and Sequoia Capital.

StackRox’s Chief Executive Kamal Shah quoted: “Companies are adopting containers and Kubernetes at a record pace to enable the rapid application development that’s needed for business innovation.”

“The pandemic has heightened the urgency for innovation and remote work has added far greater security demands. As a result, we’re seeing substantial growth in demand for our Kubernetes-native security platform compared to legacy container security solutions.”

StackRox was ounded in 2014, and provides Kubernetes-native security platform for cloud-native applications, containers, serverless operating into the DevSecOps space within DevOps.

The StackRox Kubernetes Security Platform enables security and DevOps teams to enforce their compliance and security policies across the entire container life cycle, from build to deploy to runtime. StackRox integrates with existing DevOps and security tools, enabling teams to quickly operationalize container and Kubernetes security

Since last few years containers and kubernetes have become ubiquitous tools in DevOps ecosystem, in how organisations will manage their deployment workloads, a trend that has only accelerated in the last few years with a predominant shift to public cloud platforms. Alongside that, the new age startups are also heavily using containers to build up and deploy their application stack.

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