How to Build DevSecOps Culture in Teams
Building a DevSecOps culture means weaving security into every step of the software development lifecycle. It’s not just about tools – it’s about reshaping mindsets so that developers, operations, and security teams work together seamlessly. Here’s what you need to know:
- Why it matters: Fixing bugs during implementation costs 6x more than addressing them early. In testing, it’s 15x more expensive. With $2.41 trillion lost to poor software quality in the U.S. annually, integrating security early is a must.
- The shift: Move from “gates” (final security checks) to “guardrails” (continuous security practices). This approach turns security into a shared responsibility, reducing vulnerabilities without slowing development.
- Core principles: Start security early (“shift left”), automate testing, encourage accountability, and prioritize continuous learning.
Key steps include embedding security into project planning, automating vulnerability scans, creating tailored training for your team, and tracking progress with shared metrics. The result? Faster development cycles, fewer bugs, and stronger protection against cyber threats.
This isn’t a one-time effort. Regular training, open communication, and celebrating progress are essential to keep security top of mind. By doing so, you transform security from an afterthought into a natural part of your development process.
DevSecOps Culture Basics
What DevSecOps Culture Means
DevSecOps culture reshapes the way teams approach development by weaving security into every step of the process, making it a shared responsibility for all involved. It moves away from the traditional siloed approach, uniting development, security, and operations teams into a cohesive unit where security becomes as routine as coding or deploying.
Instead of treating security as a final checkpoint, DevSecOps integrates it from the outset. As Steve White, Field CISO for Pivotal, puts it:
The phrase I like to use is we’re moving from gates to guardrails, right? So security’s function in the enterprise moving forward should be to provide these – They’re like the safety net, right? There’s a top and bottom guard rail that would protect you from sort of exceeding really bad parameters but within those guardrails.
This shift transforms security teams into enablers, offering tools, training, and guidance to empower everyone to make informed security decisions.
The distinction between traditional DevOps and DevSecOps becomes clear when comparing their priorities:
| Parameter | DevOps | DevSecOps |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Goal | Speed and efficiency in software delivery | Application security |
| Collaboration | Between development and operations teams | Among development, security, and operations teams |
| Automation | Focus on development, testing, and deployment | Includes security testing like SAST, DAST, SCA, IaC, and more |
| Incident Response | Primarily performance and reliability issues | Covers both performance and security incidents |
| Compliance | Often secondary | Meeting compliance standards is essential |
These changes lay the groundwork for key principles that define and sustain a DevSecOps culture.
Key DevSecOps Culture Principles
Building on this foundation, the following principles are essential for nurturing a strong DevSecOps culture:
Shift Left Security Integration is at the heart of DevSecOps. This principle emphasizes addressing security early in the development lifecycle. Instead of tackling vulnerabilities after development, teams identify security needs alongside functional requirements from the beginning. This proactive approach reduces costly fixes later and ensures security shapes the overall architecture.
Automation and Continuous Monitoring streamline security processes, eliminating manual roadblocks. Teams automate tasks like security testing, code analysis, vulnerability scanning, and compliance checks. Real-time monitoring tools and feedback loops ensure teams stay updated on their security posture without sacrificing speed.
Shared Responsibility and Accountability marks a cultural evolution. As Jason Chavarría from Fluid Attacks explains:
Adopting a DevSecOps culture and mindset means that people in development, operations and security teams work together to release secure software at speed. The whole point of this shift is to allow seamless communication and teamwork, thus encouraging ownership and accountability.
Everyone on the team takes security into account, and tracking changes ensures clear accountability. Tools like version control systems and audit trails provide transparency throughout the process.
Trust and Open Communication are essential for collaboration. Patrick Debois, Advisor to Snyk, highlights the human aspect:
Models such as The Three Ways of DevOps, CAMS, and CALMS all emphasize that while DevOps was made possible by automation, programmable infrastructure, and more accessible programming languages and APIs, it is fundamentally a human-centered movement, focused on improving the interactions between people.
Breaking down silos between teams requires fostering open communication and knowledge sharing. Security thrives on collaboration, not confrontation.
Continuous Learning and Adaptation is crucial in a constantly changing threat landscape. Michael Fitzurka, Middleware Solutions Architect at DLT Solutions, explains:
That is why I believe fostering a continuous learning practice is an essential element to any DevSecOps program.
With technology evolving rapidly, teams must stay informed about emerging threats, tools, and practices. This commitment to learning not only addresses uncertainty in the face of change but also enhances team members’ skills and career growth opportunities.
When these principles come together, security becomes an integral part of development rather than an afterthought. Organizations that embrace this approach often see more frequent deployments, faster changes, fewer failures, and quicker recovery times. However, this cultural shift requires intentional effort – Gartner predicted that 75% of DevSecOps initiatives would fall short of expectations by 2022 due to challenges in organizational learning and adaptation. This underscores the critical role of deliberate culture-building in achieving success.
Working on DevSecOps Culture: A Team Centric View – Snyk
How to Build DevSecOps Culture in Your Team
Shifting your team’s approach to security requires more than just adopting new tools – it demands a mindset change. Building a DevSecOps culture means integrating security into every stage of the development process and making it a shared responsibility across teams. Here’s how to get started.
Add Security to Project Planning
Start by embedding security into the foundation of your projects. During the initial planning phases, define security requirements alongside development goals. This means identifying potential threats, setting compliance targets, and ensuring security aligns with your project’s overall objectives.
Bring together security experts, developers, and operations teams early on to agree on security goals, workflows, and resource needs. These cross-functional meetings help everyone understand their role in maintaining security from the outset, reducing confusion and resistance later on.
Establish clear security policies that outline what needs testing, how vulnerabilities should be prioritized, and how security integrates into daily workflows. Include compliance standards specific to your industry – whether it’s SOC 2, HIPAA, or others – to ensure your team meets regulatory requirements.
Incorporate threat modeling into these planning sessions to identify vulnerabilities early. This proactive step not only helps you anticipate challenges but also ensures security is woven into the project from the ground up. Document findings and make them part of your project’s core requirements.
Move Security Earlier in Development
Incorporating security measures early – often called "shifting security left" – is a game-changer. By addressing vulnerabilities during the early stages of development, you can save time, reduce costs, and prevent defects from escalating.
The Cloud Security Alliance emphasizes this point:
Security can be achieved only when it has been designed in. Applying security measures as an afterthought is a recipe for disaster.
Automate security checks within your CI/CD pipelines to provide real-time feedback. Integrate tools for static (SAST) and dynamic (DAST) security testing, secrets scanning, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) scans. These automated processes catch misconfigurations and vulnerabilities before they become larger issues.
Set up automated vulnerability notifications to alert your team about issues, complete with details on severity, affected resources, and suggested fixes. Regularly review security findings with both development and security teams to create collaborative feedback loops. Use playbooks to automate pull requests with recommended fixes for critical issues, and track progress using dashboards and SLAs based on severity levels.
This early detection approach not only minimizes risks but also sets the stage for a well-trained and security-conscious team.
Create Targeted Security Training
Human error is a major factor in security breaches, so training your team is essential. But generic training won’t cut it – focus on the specific threats and vulnerabilities your team is most likely to face.
Customize training to address threats like the CWE Top 25 and OWASP Top 10, tailoring content to your team’s programming languages, tools, and current knowledge base. Use assessments to benchmark and track improvements in areas like Secure Coding and Secure Development practices.
Role-specific training ensures everyone learns what’s most relevant to their responsibilities. Developers should focus on secure coding, while operations teams need to hone their skills in infrastructure security and incident response. For example, Zoom implemented targeted training through the Security Journey platform, requiring new engineers to complete learning paths and offering annual refreshers. This approach empowered developers to proactively address vulnerabilities in existing code.
To keep things engaging, gamify the training process. Host tournaments or challenges to test knowledge while making learning enjoyable. This method not only boosts participation but also reinforces long-term retention of security concepts.
Make training a continuous process. Regular updates on emerging threats and refresher sessions ensure your team stays ahead of the curve. Use assessments to identify potential security champions – team members who can advocate for best practices and provide peer support. These champions act as a bridge, reinforcing training concepts in daily workflows.
Keeping Security-First Thinking Alive
Building a DevSecOps culture is not a one-and-done effort. It requires consistent reinforcement to prevent teams from slipping back into old habits. The practices outlined below help sustain the security-first mindset established earlier in your projects.
Hold Regular Security Training and Practice Sessions
Security threats are constantly changing, and your team’s skills need to keep pace. Ongoing training is essential to stay ahead of new vulnerabilities and maintain a strong foundation in secure coding and infrastructure best practices.
Update training programs frequently to reflect the latest threats and challenges. Encourage your team to participate in security information-sharing initiatives to expand their understanding of CI/CD-related risks. Additionally, test incident response plans regularly and adjust policies as needed to align with evolving standards.
These training efforts not only sharpen skills but also contribute to measurable improvements in your overall security readiness.
Measure and Share Security Progress
Tracking progress is key to reinforcing a security-first approach. Metrics provide a clear picture of how well your security controls are performing and identify areas that need attention.
For example, organizations that integrate DevSecOps into their CI/CD pipelines often see deployment times drop by 40% while simultaneously improving their security posture. Start by defining specific objectives for your metrics. Choose ones that align with your development and security workflows, evaluate your current performance, and set achievable improvement goals.
One tech company, for instance, achieved a 30% reduction in security incidents by focusing on metrics like Mean Time to Detection (MTTD) and Mean Time to Response (MTTR), significantly boosting their incident response capabilities. Embedding metric collection into your workflows and using automation to generate real-time insights can make this process seamless.
"Shared metrics with DevOps and security teams cooperating on shared goals will help achieve compliance and security. It only works if you have clear lines of communication to set realistic expectations." – Anchore
Sharing these metrics encourages transparency and collaboration. For example, a financial services firm used security metrics to bring development, operations, and security teams together, resulting in a 40% drop in vulnerabilities detected after deployment.
Metrics aren’t just about tracking progress – they highlight successes worth celebrating, keeping the team motivated.
Recognize Security Wins and Progress
Acknowledging achievements in security keeps the momentum going. Regularly review and discuss metrics with all stakeholders to validate the team’s efforts and encourage a data-driven approach to decision-making.
Celebrate both small and large victories to reinforce the importance of security. Recognition doesn’t always need to be formal – simple acknowledgments during meetings or in team communications can go a long way.
Solicit feedback from developers, operations staff, and security experts to refine your practices. Highlight the contributions of security champions – individuals who actively promote security awareness and go the extra mile. These champions can help sustain momentum even when formal initiatives slow down.
Additionally, take time to evaluate the effectiveness of your tools and workflows. Use these reviews as opportunities to acknowledge teams that have successfully integrated new tools or adapted to updated processes. This not only ensures your security practices remain effective but also keeps teams engaged and motivated.
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Adding Security to Cloud DevOps Processes
To maintain a security-first approach in DevOps, it’s crucial to adopt practices that prioritize protection throughout cloud integration. With nearly 45% of data breaches being cloud-based and 27% of organizations reporting public cloud security incidents, integrating strong security measures has become a necessity. One effective way to achieve this is by automating security checks to continuously safeguard the CI/CD pipeline.
Automate Security Checks in CI/CD Pipelines
Incorporating automated security checks into your CI/CD pipeline is a proactive way to identify vulnerabilities early in the development process. These checks act as a safety net, catching potential issues before they make it to production.
"DevOps security tools incorporate proactive vulnerability checks directly into the CI/CD pipeline, enabling teams to identify and rectify security gaps early on, significantly reducing the attack surface."
To implement this, configure your pipeline to automatically run security scans after each code commit. Tools like SonarQube or Checkmarx can scan for vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and insecure object references, with alerts sent via Slack, Teams, or email. For instance, integrating SonarQube into a Jenkins pipeline might look like this:
pipeline { agent any stages { stage('SonarQube Analysis') { steps { script { def scannerHome = tool 'SonarQube Scanner'; withSonarQubeEnv('My SonarQube Server') { sh "${scannerHome}/bin/sonar-scanner" } } } } } } Additionally, use Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) to scan applications during runtime. Set thresholds to halt deployments if critical vulnerabilities are detected, further reducing the risk of flawed code being released.
Use Real-Time Monitoring and Quick Recovery
Real-time monitoring plays a vital role in maintaining system availability and enabling fast disaster recovery. Combining this with automated backups and data replication ensures quick restoration when needed. Tools like AWS CloudWatch, Azure Monitor, and Google Operations Suite provide detailed visibility into system performance. By setting automated alerts and thresholds, teams can respond rapidly to potential issues, while cloud-based logging systems simplify troubleshooting.
Automated rollbacks are equally important for minimizing downtime. Define clear failure criteria – such as HTTP errors, latency spikes, or crash loops – and use blue-green deployments to instantly redirect traffic to a stable version. Canary releases allow you to test updates with a small user segment before a full rollout. To maintain infrastructure stability, store previous versions as container images or snapshots. Combined with automated pre-deployment testing, these strategies help prevent faulty releases and enable swift recovery when necessary.
Work with Experts for Secure DevOps Setup
While automation strengthens your DevOps security, partnering with experts can take your framework to the next level. According to DORA’s 2021 State of DevOps Report, leading firms deploy code up to 30 times more frequently and experience 50% fewer errors. DevOps Managed Service Providers (MSPs) bring specialized skills in automation and best practices, reducing the need to build extensive in-house capabilities.
When choosing a partner, look for providers who align with your goals and can communicate effectively. A reputable DevOps MSP offers more than just implementation – they provide ongoing monitoring, incident management, and performance optimization to ensure your systems remain secure and stable.
For example, TECHVZERO specializes in DevOps solutions that embed security at every stage. Their offerings include automated deployments, real-time monitoring, and incident recovery, delivering measurable benefits like cost savings, faster deployments, and reduced downtime – all while adhering to strict security standards.
The demand for continuous integration tools is rising, with the market projected to grow from $1.4 billion in 2024 to $3.72 billion in 2029. By partnering with experts, you gain access to advanced knowledge and resources without the time and expense of building these capabilities internally. Before finalizing a partnership, clearly outline your expectations, use a detailed vendor checklist, and request comprehensive proposals covering technologies, timelines, and costs. Conduct interviews or demos, gather client feedback, and consider running a pilot project to evaluate the provider’s expertise and collaboration style.
Building Culture for Long-Term Security Success
Creating a lasting DevSecOps culture starts with a fundamental shift: security must become a natural part of every role. As Michael Hayden, former NSA and CIA Director, observed:
"Fundamentally, if somebody wants to get in, they’re getting in…accept that. What we tell clients is: number one, you’re in the fight, whether you thought you were or not. Number two, you almost certainly are penetrated."
This stark reality highlights why a security-first mindset is the backbone of a resilient DevSecOps framework.
To embed this culture, integrate security into everyday workflows and professional growth. Encourage developers to focus on practices like credential management, input validation, and secure coding. This ensures the security mindset extends to every stage of software development.
Keep the momentum going with continuous learning. Equip your teams with knowledge about emerging threats and best practices through targeted training, cross-functional sessions, and reliable security resources. This ongoing education empowers individuals to become security advocates within their teams .
Take it a step further by fostering security champions – team members who lead by example and promote secure practices. This peer-driven approach reinforces the transition naturally and motivates others to follow suit. Adopting a shared responsibility model, where security is everyone’s concern, further strengthens this cultural shift .
Track your progress with clear metrics, secure coding checklists, and regular incident reviews. By making these reviews blame-free, you encourage transparency and focus on continuous improvement. These practices help solidify a security-focused culture over time .
Finally, expert guidance can be a game-changer. Solutions like those offered by TECHVZERO integrate security at every stage of the development process. With automated checks, real-time monitoring, and fast incident recovery, organizations can achieve not just stronger security but also cost efficiency, quicker deployments, and less downtime.
FAQs
What are the best ways to incorporate security early in the software development process?
To weave security into the software development process from the start, begin by outlining security requirements during the planning stage. This helps establish a clear understanding of what needs to be protected. Before development kicks off, perform threat modeling to uncover potential weak points and risks that could emerge later.
As you move into the design phase, incorporate security controls directly into your system’s architecture. This step lays the groundwork for a more secure product. During development, leverage tools like static code analysis to catch vulnerabilities early, and schedule regular security reviews to stay ahead of potential issues.
By treating security as an ongoing focus rather than an afterthought, you can minimize risks, enhance your software’s reliability, and create a safer end product.
How can teams foster continuous learning and adaptability in a DevSecOps culture?
To keep up with the fast-paced nature of a DevSecOps culture, teams need to focus on ongoing education and training. Staying informed about the latest security practices and tools is key to staying ahead of potential threats. Regular testing, analysis, and monitoring should be part of the routine to spot and address vulnerabilities as early as possible.
Strong collaboration between development, operations, and security teams is equally important. Open communication ensures that everyone is working toward the same goals, sharing knowledge, and responding quickly to new challenges. By establishing feedback loops and learning from past incidents, teams can continuously refine their processes and build a stronger, more resilient security framework.
Why are automated security checks important for securing a CI/CD pipeline, and how can teams implement them effectively?
Automated Security Checks in CI/CD Pipelines
Automated security checks play a critical role in safeguarding a CI/CD pipeline. They catch vulnerabilities early in the development cycle, ensuring that security concerns are addressed without delaying deployment schedules. By running continuous scans, these checks help maintain security as a constant focus throughout the process.
To make these checks effective, teams can integrate tools like static application security testing (SAST), dynamic application security testing (DAST), and software composition analysis (SCA) directly into the pipeline. These tools automatically identify weaknesses in code, third-party dependencies, and runtime environments. Secret scanning tools are also invaluable, as they help prevent sensitive data like API keys or passwords from being exposed. Additionally, automated safeguards can isolate potentially risky builds before they reach production. Incorporating these measures at every stage of the pipeline significantly lowers the chances of security breaches while keeping the pipeline strong and secure.