9 Best practices to master Compliances with DevSecOps

In today’s digital landscape, regulatory compliance is no longer a mere checkbox but a critical pillar for organizations striving to build trust and ensure data privacy. Compliance is the cornerstone of a robust security framework, safeguarding sensitive data, protecting customer privacy, and mitigating cyber threats. GlobalScape’s The True Cost of Compliance with Data Protection Regulations study found that organizations lose an average of $4 million in revenue due to a single non-compliance event.

Organizations stress compliance because it helps them meet legal and industry standards for operating ethically and securely. By minimizing the risks of data breaches, cybersecurity threats, and reputational damage, they demonstrate a commitment to maintaining high standards and building a solid foundation of trust with stakeholders.

What is compliance in DevSecOps, and why is it important?

As software release speeds increase, there is a higher risk of unnoticed threats in new releases. DevOps and Compliance managers are crucial in preventing compliance issues arising from disorderly development workflows. Compliance rules in DevOps include conducting thorough functional and performance testing before releasing software into production and allowing only authorized personnel to deploy software releases.

While some organizations enforce compliance policies at the end of the deployment process, addressing compliance earlier in the development cycle is more cost-effective. They set rules to ensure they adhere to regulatory requirements like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX, to name a few. To effectively manage it in a rapidly deploying environment, enterprises should shift compliance to an earlier stage in the DevSecOps process, conduct frequent audit trails, implement robust safeguards and guardrails to prevent unauthorized releases and foster close collaboration between DevOps and compliance teams.

Best practices to achieve regulatory compliance with DevSecOps

• Get your people to work together:

DevOps exists so that the development and operations teams break down silos and operate efficiently. DevSecOps takes it further by integrating security and compliance goals seamlessly with development and operations objectives. It is possible to face some form of resistance from the team — because change is not always welcomed easily.

Conducting security reviews or compliance checks as late-stage tasks before deployment can result in significant inefficiencies. This approach may require revisiting crucial design decisions, causing delays in the final delivery. To overcome these challenges, aligning everyone around shared goals from the start is crucial. Development and operations teams can then collaborate closely with security experts to identify efficient ways of meeting security and compliance-specific requirements, integrating them seamlessly into their daily workflow.

• Examine your data-access controls:

An essential aspect of any development process is identity and access management. Identifying every individual who contributes to or can access systems or software is crucial while implementing controls to prevent unauthorized access, shared logins, or user impersonation. Additionally, each user should be assigned an appropriate Role Based Access Control. Once these controls are in place, a system should be in place to provide traceability, enabling seamless collaboration and a clear understanding of who made specific changes, when they were made, and the reasons behind them. Many compliance regulations stress the importance of documenting business processes and incident-handling procedures. A well-developed DevSecOps system allows you to integrate such policies seamlessly into the workflow using automation.

• Make information visual when you can:

Teams must use visual aids to define and review processes whenever possible. When establishing DevSecOps collaboration among team members with diverse skill sets and objectives, a straightforward user interface becomes more than a convenience.

Compliance and security auditors are also human users who rely on accessible and reliable information to enforce controls. By using a user interface that accurately represents controls and audit trails that provide a complete history of events, meeting compliance requirements becomes significantly easier. For instance, such visualizations can display the execution of specific tests, track changes made to records, and indicate systematic access restrictions. By embracing visibility and automation, which already simplify developers’ daily work, organizations can ensure both security and adherence to regulations.

• Create secured systems and audit them time-to-time:

When selecting a solution to build upon, it is crucial to prioritize high levels of security and reliability. Take the time to thoroughly research and find a solution that meets the highest privacy, service, and security standards. A reliable DevSecOps solution should comply with industry regulatory standards like GDPR, ISO 27001, EU/US Privacy Shield, HIPAA, the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Additionally, continuous refinement of your compliance and security controls is essential. Choose tool providers which follow best practices and take responsibility for maintaining a well-controlled and secure customer environment.

A robust DevSecOps platform must be resilient in all ways possible. Independent penetration testing can provide reassurance that the platform is secure. Remember that transparency and effective communication are just as crucial as security measures.

Consider whether the platform has a well-defined incident response process and an action plan for handling system alerts and events, particularly security incidents. This process should also include a crisis communication plan that outlines how customers will be promptly notified in the event of a large-scale incident.

• Use automation to track resources and assets:

As the scale of cloud resources expands, it gets unrealistic to keep track of all the assets and resources manually. Some assets and resources may slip through the cracks because of blind spots and human errors. Maintaining compliance in a cloud environment and protecting it depends on a clear understanding…Read More