CircleCI has achieved a SOC 2 compliance rating for the DevOps platform it makes available via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.
Tad Whitaker, security manager at CircleCI, said CircleCI is the first provider of a SaaS platform for DevOps that has invested the hundreds of thousands of dollars required to achieve SOC 2 compliance.
SOC 2 compliance requires organizations to pass an annual audit based on the Trust Services principles and criteria defined by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). That criteria evaluate IT environments on everything from the cybersecurity controls they have in place to the integrity of the data management processes employed. A SOC 2-level certification means DevOps teams can have confidence in the fact that their data is being kept completely confidential, said Whitaker.
With interest in best DevSecOps processes on the rise, Whitaker noted more organizations are starting to ask questions about how data is managed and secured on the cloud services they rely on to build and deploy applications. Cybersecurity professionals who are now participating in those processes are starting to ask challenging questions. To address those concerns, Whitaker said CircleCI created a team within the company to first attain SOC 2 compliance and, now, maintain it.
That may lead to additional processes and controls being put in place, but DevOps teams can be confident that everything possible is being done to secure their data from prying eyes, including employees of CircleCI.
A lot of the data being employed to build new applications is among the most sensitive an organization is likely to possess. As organizations embrace DevOps practices to drive digital business transformation initiatives, there’s a much greater need to ensure the DevOps environment is secure end to end. However, most of the DevOps platforms delivered as a service today are not able to validate the level of security they claim to have put in place, said Whitaker.
It’s unclear how many organizations are going to insist of SOC 2-level certifications before agreeing to develop applications on a specific DevOps platform. However, SOC 2-level certifications are routinely required for cloud service providers so it’s only a matter of time before the same audit requirements are applied to other cloud services. The challenge will come when DevOps teams have to adjust their existing DevOps processes to accommodate the security processes that SOC 2-compliant cloud service providers are required to make.
In the meantime, the days when DevOps teams could employ cloud services to bypass cybersecurity policies are coming to an end. Cybersecurity teams are finally catching up in terms of figuring out how to enforce cybersecurity policies beyond an on-premises IT environment. Not every DevOps team may appreciate the impact those policies may have on productivity. However, if the alternative is to have sensitive data that DevOps teams are now being held accountable for exposed on the web because of careless processes than the time to come to terms with cybersecurity has finally come.
