What is Shift security left?
The shift security to the left is a smart idea that is being used during the process of software development. Usually, software development goes through 4 stages:
- Design
- Development
- Testing
- Software releases.
Traditionally, The old practice is to check the quality and security tests of the software after the development. As nothing is perfect and everything needs to fix time to time. So, in the end, the developer may find plenty of issues to fix. This is not only time-consuming but also costly.
Therefore, to save time and money. There’s a new practice called “shifting security to the left”. In this practice, the security check is placed from the beginning to onward. In this way, you would be able to fix the security issues from the beginning. It will save you from extra and instant efforts in the end. This will also help to achieve the goal of saving the codebase.
Role of DevOps methodology
The role of DevOps is to become a communication bridge between the software developers and IT operation staff. The purpose of DevOps methodology is to speed up and improve the quality of software, and to give frequent, latest alerts that add value to the users.
Integration
The work of shifting security left is to use the feedback of DevOps into the feedback loop. Shifting security left to make sure that all the issues are visible to both the Software development team and IT operation team throughout the process.
Issues detection
The moment a developer develops a code. The automated security immediately alerts when it encounters any issue. This helps the developer to detect the issue and correct it on time.
Trials & testing period
In the trial and testing period, both teams should be alert to every notification about infrastructure & relevant applications. Both the teams can productively work if they sit at a table to discuss and solve the issues. This will be helpful to develop a cohesive test and trial framework.
Production period
Finally, arrive the production period in which the security issues begin to visible to all the crew members. A security alert points out the part of the area which should be fixed. This helps the developer to take quick action and fix the issue immediately. All this smooth process is the quality of the “Shift left” key that makes it stand out among all.
Shifting security to the left-A smart idea
The proper monitoring and alerting technique from the beginning of the development process. And the visibility of occurring problems to all the working crew during the development, testing, and production make it a super functional technique.
Shift security to the left-useful tools
There are several ways to shift left security. One way is to use tools. The tools are listed below.
- RASP
Runtime application self-protection (RASP) is designed to detect attacks and give alerts in real-time. It configured the software’s server. It starts scanning just after the application begins to run.
Goal of RASP
The goal of RASP is to protect the application from hackers.
- SAST
Static application system testing (SAST) checks the application security. It scans the code and detects the vulnerabilities. It checks the code during the development of the code. In this way, you can run the code and shift the security to the left.
- DAST
Dynamic application security testing (DAST) checks the vulnerability during the running time of the application. It detects run-time errors and common security issues.
- IAST
Interactive application security testing (IAST) works as a solution that runs SAST and DAST elements effectively.
- Secret detection
It overall checks the complete history of the project including all the changes that were made during the whole process.
- Dependency scan
It scans the vulnerabilities in the dependencies section. It is used during the development and testing phase.
