How to Choose the Right Tools for DevSecOps Automation

Image Source

When planning to integrate security into the DevOps pipeline, you have to adopt different practices and tools to unite IT operations, development teams, security teams, and QA testing under a single Dev Sec Ops umbrella. 

Your ultimate goal should be to add security as a part of the software development cycle rather than using it as the last add-on. So how do you choose the right tools for DevSecOps automation? 

Check If the Tool Can Manage Artifacts Natively

Even before the team starts identifying the vulnerable OSS components, they will require a universal DevOps platform that can manage different artifacts and binaries in a central place. No matter the type of technology the artifacts use, the DevOps platform should act as a central place of management.

The platform must recognize the different artifacts used, created, and consumed and their dependencies.

Find a Good Intelligence Source

All effective solutions will need the best vulnerability intelligence source to keep up with the ever-improving and latest vulnerability knowledge. So make sure that you find an excellent intelligence source for the Dev Sec Ops automation. 

Impact and Visibility Analysis Is an Important Feature

An effective DevSecOps automation will not just understand the different OSS components and libraries; it will also scan each of them to check whether there are any underlying dependencies or layers. It also checks those components which are packed in zip files and Docker images.

A tool that understands a company's dependency structure and artifacts will be able to provide good visibility. It can also determine the impact of the vulnerability present in any software ecosystem.

Check If It Supports Cloud-Native Frameworks

Any tool or solution that you choose should support release frameworks that are container-based. As these frameworks are becoming the leading standard for cloud-native developments, the tool you choose for Dev Sec Ops must have the resources to support such measures.

Only when the tool has a deep understanding of the container technology and can look into each layer to check the hidden vulnerabilities will it support automation effectively. Many automated scanning tools in the market now fail to understand and support the containers’ transitive dependencies and layers.

So, make sure to check whether the tool supports cloud-native and container-based frameworks. 

Does It Have An Automated Governing System?

One of the essential aspects you must check is the tool's ability to automate governance by an organization's security team. The governing system should automatically implement different company policies and take actions accordingly without any physical intervention. 

Some of the key features it should come with are:

• The ability to block malicious downloads.
• It should have the notification feature, wherein if there are any compliance or security violations, the tool must be able to notify through different channels like instant messaging, email, etc.
• It should prevent deploying all vulnerable release bundles.
• The ability to fail builds that are dependent on different vulnerable components.

Check If It Caters To Different Pipelines

Effective differentiators in DevSecOps are the solutions that know how to use the detailed data and connect it with different security scans across builds, containers, and repos. Choose a tool or platform that performs across the entire SDLC and monitors and detects compliance violations and vulnerabilities in the initial stages and after production deployment. 

Only such a tool that can cater across different pipelines will be a unique and effective one for DevSecOps automation. 

Does The Tool Support Hybrid Infrastructure?

With more and more organizations worldwide shifting to a hybrid infrastructure, you must select solutions and tools that actively support such infrastructure. The tool must help hybridize the infrastructure and the ongoing cloud journey to ensure standard consistency across different DevSecOps pipelines.

Look For A Tool Which Can Test Data Provisioning & Automation

Test automation is something more than automated testing. Test automation is the ability to use data and code and run testing routines which help ensure the quality of data, code, and solution. When it comes to DevSecOps, the testing process should be continuous.

To implement a code or data in a process, you should have a tool that can test automation and data provisioning. The tool assigns different test data to the particular application and runs umpteen numbers of tests on it. Once the testing is complete, the tool either automatically promotes the code to the DevOp processor or sends it back to the developer for correction and rework. 

Once you find the right tool and automate the DevSecOps process, you will integrate all the traditional notions of security controls into your software which will ultimately help speed up secure product deliveries.