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October 26, 2021

DevSecOps Best Practices That Are Ideal for Post-pandemic Hybrid Work Models



In a pre-pandemic world, remote work used to seem like a novel concept. Even though it offered benefits like reduced operational costs and increased productivity, most organizations resisted the idea of letting employees work from home.

But that mindset was quickly proved wrong when organizations were forced to adopt remote work at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies, including Microsoft, Twitter, and Atlassian (News - Alert), have decided to implement long-term work-from-home policies for their employees.



So, what will the workforce look like once the pandemic is over? The recent statistics indicate that 70% of the workforce will work remotely for at least five days a month by 2025.

From IT engineers and software developers to testing and security experts - professionals in every field will embrace a hybrid work culture in a post-pandemic world.

The Role of DevSecOps in Hybrid Work Models

The transition to remote work has made organizations vulnerable to cyberattacks and data breaches. It could be attributed to the introduction of new network endpoints outside the physical premises of an office. It highlights the importance of prioritizing application security and introducing it early on in the software development lifecycle.

That’s where DevSecOps steps into the picture. It integrates security into the initial stages of the software delivery cycle, thus holding everyone involved accountable for application security. It helps detect and rectify software vulnerabilities at the beginning, thus improving the product quality and time-to-market.

But implementing DevSecOps requires uninterrupted communication between developers, security experts, and the operations team.

Hybrid Work Challenges for DevSecOps

The biggest challenge of a hybrid work model is that a section of employees meets in the office, either regularly or intermittently. It could lead to the formation of silos, even within the same team. This, in turn, will isolate employees who work remotely.

It’s worth mentioning here that the very foundation of DevSecOps is the collaboration among development, operations, and security teams. When silos exist in your organization, these teams may not coordinate with each other. That, in turn, defies the purpose of implementing DevSecOps in the first place.

Also, it could adversely affect employee morale and productivity. Ultimately, these factors will result in unprecedented delays in the software delivery cycle.

DevSecOps Best Practices for a Hybrid Workforce

So, how do you ensure timely delivery of products without introducing security issues? The key is to adopt new DevSecOps best practices that’ll help your hybrid workforce collaborate and communicate.

Here are a few useful strategies to help you get started:

1. Leverage Automation

Apart from reducing delays and improving efficiency, automation can go a long way to overcoming silos. For instance, automated testing tools can be configured to automatically create test cases based on relevant compliance standards. They can even test various code snippets and share reports with different teams.

That eliminates the need for human intervention at every step and helps keep development and security teams on the same page.

Also, you can use new-age test automation tools to implement shift-left testing, i.e. automatically introducing security testing earlier in the software development cycle. It’ll enhance productivity by preventing delays and miscommunication. That, in turn, will help you meet time-to-market deadlines without compromising on security.

2. Prioritize Toolchain Security

Between identifying bugs and correcting code, software professionals often ignore the importance of securing the tools they use. That isn’t a huge hassle when all team members are working in the office.

But when you have a few employees connected to their home WiFi (News - Alert), it creates the perfect setting for security threats to creep in. That’s why it is essential for all teams to focus on securing their toolchain through practices, such as zero-trust architecture (ZTA) and identity access management (IAM).

3. Improve Transparency and Communication

In a hybrid workforce, regular communication between security, development, and operations teams becomes all the more important. Make it a norm for all teams to meet on a video call at the end of every workday. It’s a great way to share important updates and issues.

Also, it’s a good idea to conduct weekly code analyses and reviews. Let developers check each other’s codes to identify vulnerabilities and suggest ways to correct them. It could be instrumental in enhancing productivity and overall speed of delivery.

4. Re-train Developers

A hybrid work model emphasizes the importance of training developers to adopt secure coding practices. It eliminates the need for security experts to constantly monitor software development.

Preparing DevSecOps for the New Normal

A distributed workforce will become a reality for DevSecOps in the post-pandemic world. Following DevSecOps best practices will help software developers and security experts seamlessly collaborate, even if they’re working at different locations. The use of automation will further help break silos and skyrocket efficiency.



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