{"id":96977,"date":"2024-07-31T13:04:30","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T13:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.checkmarx.com\/?post_type=learn&p=96977"},"modified":"2026-04-10T20:06:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T18:06:04","slug":"devsecops-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"learn","link":"https:\/\/checkmarx.com\/learn\/developers\/devsecops-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"DevSecOps Best Practices for Application Security Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/h2>\n
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DevSecOps is a cultural shift that allows organizations to implement security best practices throughout the software development lifecycle. This article covers the <\/span>DevSecOps framework<\/span>, and includes a <\/span>DevSecOps testing checklist<\/span> to make sure you have all your bases covered when implementing <\/span>DevSecOps best practices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

DevSecOps<\/a> is a methodology that integrates security alongside development and operations to create a <\/span>shared culture of responsibility <\/span>across the business. When you implement a <\/span>DevSecOps framework<\/span> around application security, you are ensuring that security is considered at every stage of the software development life cycle (SDLC<\/a>), including as early as possible in design and development, through to testing, deployment and runtime operations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"application<\/p>\n

\nHow Does the <\/span>DevSecOps Framework<\/span> Detect Security Gaps?<\/span>\n<\/h2>\n

A robust DevSecOps framework supports security teams in detecting security gaps in a number of ways. For example, automated security testing such as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) and Software Composition Analysis (SCA)<\/a> are tools that are integrated into the SDLC as part of the DevSecOps process, and analyze code, components and applications for vulnerabilities. Automation can also scan for code in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with automated policy enforcement or preset queries, alongside real-time monitoring and log analysis to detect any potential threats in applications and infrastructure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"devsecops<\/p>\n

In a DevSecOps pipeline, security tools and systems will be automatically embedded into Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment processes, so that when code is integrated, built, and deployed – teams can ensure they are reducing risk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Key DevSecOps Metrics to Track<\/span><\/h2>\n

In order to keep track of how effective the DevSecOps framework is, organizations turn to robust reporting and analytics, tracking metrics including:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mean-Time-to-Detect (MTTD): <\/b>How long does it take your team to uncover a vulnerability or a security incident when it occurs?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mean-Time-to-Respond (MTTR): <\/b>Once discovered, how long does it take to resolve an issue and validate that it has been mitigated?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Number of vulnerabilities detected:<\/b> During development, how many vulnerabilities have been identified? Note that a low number may be a sign of false negatives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coverage:<\/b> How much of the overall codebase is being scanned automatically by security testing tools?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Understanding DevSecOps Integrations<\/span><\/h2>\n

When thinking about DevSecOps best practices, integrations are a core element of any security strategy. Without strong integrations, teams can struggle with visibility across tools and platforms, or experience difficulties sharing data and communicating to the c-suite.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Your DevSecOps tools should either include or easily integrate with a wide array of other tools. Think Version Control Systems like Git that track changes and allow developers to collaborate on code, Source Code Managers (SCM) such as GitHub, BitBucket, Azure DevOps and more, CI\/CD pipelines for automated building, testing and deployment, security testing tools including SAST, SCA and IaC testing, tools that offer easy feedback and ticketing, configuration management, and ongoing monitoring and logging solutions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To meet developers where they are, testing tools for example should be able to run seamlessly in their choice of Integrated Development Environment (IDE) so that they have the option to review and fix code directly from the scan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

DevSecOps Testing Checklist<\/span><\/h2>\n

A robust DevSecOps framework will include a range of security testing from pre-development to deployment and beyond. You can use this checklist to ensure that you\u2019re being comprehensive about security across the entire SDLC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n