Developer-centric security movements have dominated discussions in software development over recent years. The concepts are clear — integrate security early and find issues faster. But how does an organization measure the success of its developer security program?

Let's first take a look at what DevOps (Developer Operations) is so we can better understand why it has now evolved into DevSecOps (Developer Security Operations). DevOps is a combination of philosophies, practices, and tools that increases a business's ability to deliver better development in less time (Higher velocity). This can be applied to building a new product or the process of continuous improvement that applies to most products we see today.

In the last decade, there has been an increasing focus on compliance and security. As a result, regulatory bodies have established severe penalties for non-compliance. Consequently, organizations put together compliance frameworks that are pertinent to their industry. To support such frameworks, security tool vendors have developed solutions to help these organizations easily automate security compliance.

DevSecOps is a variant of DevOps that adds security to the software development workflow. Application Programming Interfaces (API) security needs to be part of DevSecOps. This article explores how DevSecOps works and the role that API security plays in making applications that result from DevSecOps as secure as possible.

Security leaders are eager to move to a DevSecOps approach—and why wouldn’t they be? DevSecOps has been emerging as a key component in organizations’ efforts to build strong security into all the software products they deliver. The adoption and implementation of the DevSecOps methodology involves multiple facets of organizations and brings together security and development professionals in a collaborative mission to deliver products that are both high in quality and secure.