In an ideal world, security and development teams work together in perfect harmony. But we live in a world of competing priorities, where DevOps and security departments often clash.
Agility and security are often at odds. When new features are delivered quickly but contain security vulnerabilities, the SecOps team must scramble the release and patch the vulnerabilities, which can take days or weeks . On the other hand, if the SecOps team spends too much time reviewing and approving new features, the development team will be frustrated by the slow pace of delivery.
Security needs to move slowly and carefully, but development wants to “move fast and break things”, and they want to release new features quickly. DevOps teams may view security as a roadblock rather than a critical part of the process. When teams are pulling in opposite directions, tension and conflict often arise between the two teams, slowing development and exposing the organization to security risks.
It’s Time to Automate Security Testing
One way to resolve this conflict is to automate testing with every release. Rather than performing a one-time penetration test when a web application launches, the security team takes an approach called “continuous security” to ensure that vulnerabilities aren’t reintroduced with each new release or update. need to do it.
Continuous security involves the SecOps team early and often in the development process. We work with developers to help them understand the risks associated with new features and find ways to mitigate them. Involving the SecOps team early helps ensure that new features are developed with security in mind from the beginning.
Advantages of Continuous Pen Testing
Penetration testing is an important component of web application security. As the attack surface expands and applications become more complex, regular penetration testing becomes a critical component of a strong web application security posture.
However, penetration testing is often performed on a regular basis, resulting in a “security sprint” each time a new test is scheduled. Pen testing late in the release cycle can disrupt the development process. Finding vulnerabilities only at specific flagpole points in development often requires extensive and costly rework for Dev and DevOps teams.
As part of shifting left and improving the workflow between DevOps and security teams, web application security testing should be built into the development process. In this way, vulnerabilities can be found and fixed before the code is deployed in production.
A continuous testing approach is an effective way to integrate security testing into your development process. This allows organizations to identify vulnerabilities without breaking the release cycle. However, despite its benefits, regular and continuous penetration testing can be difficult to implement. This is a resource-intensive process that requires tools and expertise that are not readily available.
Pen-Testing-as-a-Service: Prioritizing DevOps and SecOps
One solution is to partner with a provider that specializes in continuous penetration testing and can help you implement it in your organization. Pen-Testing-as-a-Service (PTaaS) makes it quick and easy to get started with continuous penetration testing without investing in additional resources or expanding your team.
PTaaS solutions build a shared understanding of security issues and their impact. Development team members become more involved in the security of the applications they are building when they are given the opportunity to test and fix vulnerabilities in their code before it goes into production. Some of his PTaaS solutions go a step further by offering features that make it easier for developers to fix vulnerabilities, such as one-click fixes for common issues.
Outpost24’s Pen Testing as a Service (PTaaS) provides continuous penetration testing of web applications for the duration of the contract (typically one year or more). It includes the tools and expertise needed to implement continuous penetration testing in your organization.
Outpost24’s PTaaS solution offers several advantages:
- Improved web application security: By integrating security testing into your development process, you can find and fix vulnerabilities early, before they become problems.
- Continuous coverage: PTaaS provides continuous coverage of your application, so you can be confident that your application is always secure, even after development updates and vulnerability fixes.
- Expertise on demand: PTaaS gives you access to the expertise you need, when you need it, including 24/7 portal communication.
- Improved efficiency: PTaaS helps SecOps and DevOps communicate thanks to clear remediation procedures and retesting that enable continuous development throughout the penetration testing period.
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| This is an example remediation process for one of the vulnerabilities discovered by Outpost24’s ongoing penetration testing. |
PTaaS is a cost-effective solution that integrates application development and security processes into DevSecOps (continuous, automated, and secure software development lifecycles). PTaaS helps organizations deliver secure software faster by aligning the priorities of development, security, and operations teams.
Contact us to find out how Outpost24 can help implement continuous penetration testing for your organization.
