Complexity has a way of muddying even the clearest of waters, and this has certainly been the case with IT Operations. While Dev, Ops and Security teams share a common purpose, the silos between them are so deeply entrenched, it’s easy to see how they have forgotten that they are working towards the same end.  Fortunately, the rise of DevOps has provided the opportunity to break down those silos and leverage automation to increase agility, efficiency AND security.  But accomplishing that requires an alignment that is only possible through a sustained, collaborative effort. So, I wanted to dig into more detail into the stakes Security, Dev and Ops all share, as I am certain the benefits of working together will become startlingly apparent.

First, let’s take a look at where each group is coming from:

• Developers want fast, automated application deployments. They only care about infrastructure as it relates to their ability to roll out applications.
• Operations folks (network managers) live, eat and breathe infrastructure. When it comes to application deployment, they need clear technical requirements to reduce “redos.”
• Security folks need to make sure policy & process are enforced with auditable security controls that also can ensure compliance.

A big part of the problem is that until now, security has been introduced at the tail end of the development lifecycle, after risky practices have been introduced into application delivery architecture. Security comes in after the fact, implementing fixes and controls the best they can.  Obviously this slows things down, and creates a dynamic in which security is perceived as an obstacle, and security teams are pigeonholed as “the folks who are always saying no.”

The good news is that automation can ensure that security is woven into Dev and Ops processes from the get go, and to great benefit.  But technology alone won’t change the underlying problem.  Breaking down silos requires cultural shifts that don’t happen overnight.  The first step to changing these dynamics is to better understand the relationship that exists between applications and infrastructure.   This does not mean security folks need to become domain experts in agile development, or that developers need to become network security experts. In fact, even a basic understanding of the collective impact of these trends should create the common ground needed to move towards a more collaborative model.

As the DevOps movement reaches critical mass, the increased agility, greater efficiency and substantial security improvements it can deliver are being talked, written and Tweeted about in depth, and with increasing frequency.  And most importantly, these benefits are not just marketing buzzwords – they are tangible and multifaceted, as is illustrated in Steve Hall’s Jan 2014 blog post:

“Business people completely understand ‘release my product faster’, ‘time to market’ and ‘make more money’ which are some of the outcomes that DevOps pontificates on. This is why DevOps as a movement has a higher probability of succeeding than other investment choices because there is a direct correlation between it and top/bottom line revenue. So if you’re an InfoSec leader, a good bet is to align yourself to the DevOps initiative (or spearhead it yourself for that matter) and help the business understand the value of security in a way that doesn’t measure things by # of incidents, time lapse from vulnerability to patch, or compliance score.”

As for the shared stakes between Dev and Ops, check out John Allspaw and Paul Hammond’s Velocity 2009 talk on how cooperation between Dev and Ops enabled 10+ deploys per day at Flicker.  If that doesn’t demonstrate what “increased agility” looks like, I don’t know what does.

These are just a sampling of the myriad ways Security, Dev and Ops can reap greater benefits by working together. But…. it takes time and effort to get the ball rolling.  Perhaps the best way to get started is to make sure Dev, Ops and Security start talking, literally.   Once a week.  Every week. No matter what! Get the bodies there, and I promise you, their minds will follow.

Based on our customers’ experience, a few quick wins is all that is needed to get the ball rolling.  Once Dev, Ops and Security folks experience the upside for themselves, those silos will start to crumble.  In my next post, I’ll provide some examples where automation can enable Dev, Ops, and Security to gain those quick wins and build momentum for further cultural change.