DevOps.com

  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Features
    • Most Read
    • News
    • News Releases
  • Topics
    • AI
    • Continuous Delivery
    • Continuous Testing
    • Cloud
    • Culture
    • DevSecOps
    • Enterprise DevOps
    • Leadership Suite
    • DevOps Practice
    • ROELBOB
    • DevOps Toolbox
    • IT as Code
  • Videos/Podcasts
    • DevOps Chats
    • DevOps Unbound
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming
    • On-Demand Webinars
  • Library
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • On-Demand Events
  • Sponsored Communities
    • AWS Community Hub
    • CloudBees
    • IT as Code
    • Rocket on DevOps.com
    • Traceable on DevOps.com
    • Quali on DevOps.com
  • Related Sites
    • Techstrong Group
    • Container Journal
    • Security Boulevard
    • Techstrong Research
    • DevOps Chat
    • DevOps Dozen
    • DevOps TV
    • Digital Anarchist
  • Media Kit
  • About
  • AI
  • Cloud
  • Continuous Delivery
  • Continuous Testing
  • DevSecOps
  • Leadership Suite
  • Practices
  • ROELBOB
  • Low-Code/No-Code
  • IT as Code
  • More Topics
    • Application Performance Management/Monitoring
    • Culture
    • Enterprise DevOps

Home » Blogs » DevSecOps » Swim in the DevOps pool or drown in security problems

Swim in the DevOps pool or drown in security problems

By: Tony Bradley on May 15, 2015 3 Comments

There has been a significant shift recently in security. Most security vendors and organizations recognize that the traditional model of keeping the bad guys out by detecting malicious exploits is flawed at best. The reality is that the bad guys are already inside the network using authorized credentials to bypass security controls and exfiltrate sensitive data. That sounds ominous but the silver lining is that DevOps changes the game and shifts the advantage back to the good guys.

Recent Posts By Tony Bradley
  • The Best Approach to Help Developers Build Security into the Pipeline
  • Better Apps and Better Security When You Shift Left
  • The Road Ahead for Security, DevOps Transformation
More from Tony Bradley
Related Posts
  • Swim in the DevOps pool or drown in security problems
  • Jamstack Will Revolutionize How Websites Are Built
  • MDR for DevSecOps: How Managed Security Can Help You Shift Left
    Related Categories
  • Blogs
  • DevSecOps
    Related Topics
  • continuous monitoring
  • devops
  • Lancope
  • OODA loop
  • TK Keanini
Show more
Show less

There was a time when the traditional model made sense. The attack techniques used and the motivations behind the attacks were different. In recent years, however, the line between inside and outside attacks has been blurred beyond recognition. There have been some high-profile insider attacks like Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden, but the reality is that most of the “outside” attacks were perpetrated using stolen or compromised credentials. In other words there is no difference between an inside and an outside threat at the actual point of attack.

DevOps/Cloud-Native Live! Boston

Organizations have to guard against both inside and outside attacks. In almost all cases, though, the root problem is credential abuse. Whether it’s an authorized employee accessing systems or data in an unusual way or an outside attacker moving laterally through the network and exfiltrating data using compromised credentials the crucial part for an organization is to have detection methodology in place capable of performing anomaly analysis to identify concerning behavior and activity.

Improving security through DevOps

That’s where DevOps comes in. Organizations need to have continuous monitoring in place. Anomalous activity isn’t something you can just conduct a daily or weekly scan for. If you don’t detect the activity in real-time and do something to stop it immediately the damage will already be done by the time you retroactively review log data and discover the breach.

Things are heading in that direction—but slowly. The good news is that DevOps seems to be picking up steam as more security vendors and organizations face the reality that the traditional security model can’t effectively protect against attacks.

“The DevOps movement is really gaining momentum but unfortunately still small,” agreed TK Keanini, CTO of Lancope. “It is a small but passionate community that can do nothing else but grow and help fill a void as we move from traditional enterprise IT to Internet IT. The tempo of DevOps is its major security feature and—with the principals of John Boyd’s OODA loop—has a winning formula to make it too expensive for adversaries to attack.”

DevOps isn’t just a trendy way of providing or delivering security. The security vendors themselves are also starting to embrace DevOps internally as a means of keeping up with attackers and working to develop new tools and techniques more effectively and efficiently.

Keanini explained that everyone will be moving to DevOps over the next 3 years—just not all at the same time. “Where IT was infrastructure and development was applications, suddenly infrastructure is the application or you could say that applications have become infrastructure but in either case, the business is forced to redraw the org charts and redo the processes.”

Jump in! The water is great

Attacks are relentless and attackers are nothing if not innovative. If you’re using yesterday’s security tools and techniques to defend against last week’s attacks and attackers you’ve already lost. Organizations need to move faster to stay ahead of attacks, and the most effective way to accomplish that goal is to incorporate DevOps tools and principles into the security model.

Keanini summed up with, “It is exciting and I encourage folks to start jumping off the diving board as they are filling up the pool.”

Filed Under: Blogs, DevSecOps Tagged With: continuous monitoring, devops, Lancope, OODA loop, TK Keanini

Sponsored Content
Featured eBook
The State of Open Source Vulnerabilities 2020

The State of Open Source Vulnerabilities 2020

Open source components have become an integral part of today’s software applications — it’s impossible to keep up with the hectic pace of release cycles without them. As open source usage continues to grow, so does the number of eyes focused on open source security research, resulting in a record-breaking ... Read More
« Survey: Fed gov cloud success hinges on DevOps
Why I Dislike The Term ‘DevOps Culture’ »

TechStrong TV – Live

Click full-screen to enable volume control
Watch latest episodes and shows

Upcoming Webinars

Accelerating Continuous Security With Value Stream Management
Monday, May 23, 2022 - 11:00 am EDT
The Complete Guide to Open Source Licenses 2022
Monday, May 23, 2022 - 3:00 pm EDT
Building a Successful Open Source Program Office
Tuesday, May 24, 2022 - 11:00 am EDT

Latest from DevOps.com

DevSecOps Deluge: Choosing the Right Tools
May 20, 2022 | Gary Robinson
Managing Hardcoded Secrets to Shrink Your Attack Surface 
May 20, 2022 | John Morton
DevOps Institute Releases Upskilling IT 2022 Report 
May 18, 2022 | Natan Solomon
Creating Automated GitHub Bots in Go
May 18, 2022 | Sebastian Spaink
Is Your Future in SaaS? Yes, Except …
May 18, 2022 | Don Macvittie

Get The Top Stories of the Week

  • View DevOps.com Privacy Policy
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Download Free eBook

The 101 of Continuous Software Delivery
New call-to-action

Most Read on DevOps.com

Why Over-Permissive CI/CD Pipelines are an Unnecessary Evil
May 16, 2022 | Vladi Sandler
DevOps Institute Releases Upskilling IT 2022 Report 
May 18, 2022 | Natan Solomon
Apple Allows 50% Fee Rise | @ElonMusk Fans: 70% Fake | Micro...
May 17, 2022 | Richi Jennings
Making DevOps Smoother
May 17, 2022 | Gaurav Belani
Creating Automated GitHub Bots in Go
May 18, 2022 | Sebastian Spaink

On-Demand Webinars

DevOps.com Webinar ReplaysDevOps.com Webinar Replays
  • Home
  • About DevOps.com
  • Meet our Authors
  • Write for DevOps.com
  • Media Kit
  • Sponsor Info
  • Copyright
  • TOS
  • Privacy Policy

Powered by Techstrong Group, Inc.

© 2022 ·Techstrong Group, Inc.All rights reserved.