Fitting QA and Sec in DevOps

Traditional QA is woefully short in tackling the challenges of modern software applications. This is due to the fact that today’s software applications have interfaces with several digital elements and third-party sites to function and deliver the right outcomes. And to ensure that they do so seamlessly, DevOps QA must replace traditional QA.

So, why did DevOps QA slowly assume salience in the new digital scheme of things?

In a traditional software development lifecycle, QA exists as a distinct group along with Dev. It has different job roles, responsibilities, and management. The bottom line, both Dev and QA exist as separate entities catering to different objectives. However, from the operations perspective, both development and QA are considered to be part of the same ecosystem.

With quality, or should we say customer experience, taking precedence over everything else as far as acquiring a competitive edge in the market is concerned, enterprises are adopting DevOps as a methodology. Here, development and operations are combined in a cultural web where ensuring quality is not a one-off thing but a continuous process to be adhered to. So, when development and operations merge, how does QA fare in the scheme of things? DevOps is all about enhancing the quality of software applications throughout the SDLC and beyond. It incorporates test automation, security, and quality engineering while delivering continuous integration and deployment.

Why DevOps?

Enterprises are adopting this model to create a build ecosystem where quality software is developed quickly – on a weekly, daily, or even hourly basis. Here, the traditional concept of software release gives way to the continuous improvement of products or services. DevOps is the culmination of agile wherein all bottlenecks to delivering a superior quality application are removed. Through DevOps test automation, enterprises can achieve objectives like faster time to market, high-quality applications, instant responsiveness to customer queries or feedback, and preventing the ingress of glitches, among others.

How to incorporate Security into DevOps

As the security of applications becomes a cause of concern due to the rising incidents of cybercrime, customers have become wary of trying out new applications or even using the established ones. Are the concerns of end-customers valid or are they overreacting? The answer to the validity of concerns is a resounding yes. Unfortunately, even when the spectre of cybercrime is on-the-face, many enterprises have not yet woken up to the challenge. There is often a mistaken belief that cybercriminals would only target big and established players, and smaller players can get away without incorporating security into their build pipeline. Since security is such an important part of DevOps, let us understand how to weave awareness about the same in the SDLC.

How to introduce security into DevOps and make it DevSecOps?

The best practices to incorporate security into the DevOps model are as follows:

Create a DevSecOps culture: Every member of an organization should be made aware of the consequences of a security breach, especially on the brand and business. A heightened level of security awareness can help companies in situations where there is pressure to come out with a large number of software applications in lesser time. All-encompassing security culture will prevent developers to take shortcuts and instead insist on making way for DevOps quality assurance. To ensure the incorporation of DevOps QA in the SDLC, the culture for security awareness should be driven from the top. The executives and various stakeholders in the value chain should be made responsible for overseeing the introduction of security into the DevOps model.

Inculcate security awareness: This continues from the above wherein every new hire in the organization should be trained in the basics of security. It could be about writing a secure piece of code or identifying the most common attack vectors. The senior developers and DevOps testing specialists could be tasked with preparing training courses on secure coding protocols or common mistakes. Thus, the senior developers take ownership of these issues, especially when it comes to the daily grind of reviews, builds, and deployments.

Security processes should be compulsory but minimal: People, by and large, dislike lengthy protocols and can be at the end of their tether when the security processes are elaborate. So, it makes sense to lay down short and robust security mechanisms when it comes to dealing with passwords, encryption keys, or ciphers, among others. However, the types of authentication that are required should not be left to guesswork but made mandatory.

Conclusion

As DevOps picks up momentum and becomes the de-facto model for software development, QA and security should be made an integral part of the value chain. The latter two will ensure the effectiveness of the model when it comes to developing quality software applications.