You’ve heard of DevOps. And by now, you’ve probably also heard of DevSecOps, which extends DevOps principles into the realm of security. In DevSecOps, security breaks out of its “silo” and becomes a core part of the DevOps lifecycle. That, at least, is the theory behind DevSecOps. What’s often more challenging for developers to figure out is how to apply DevSecOps in practice. Which tools and processes actually operationalize DevSecOps?

To achieve DevSecOps you need to shift security left. Sounds simple, right? Well, it’s easier said than done. A recent survey conducted by SANS Institute found that 74 percent of organizations are deploying software changes more than once per month – an increase in velocity of nearly 14 percent over the past four years. To release software monthly, weekly, or even daily, security has to be integrated into the development process, not tacked on at the end.

Year after year, cyberattackers cause unnecessary stress for organizations, disrupting innovation and impacting profit. 2020 was no different – last year brought a bevy of damaging breaches that cost organizations precious money and time they couldn’t get back. Ranging from thousands to billions of records exposed, breaches big and small gave threat actors access to sensitive information like email addresses, locations, passwords, dates of birth, and more.

Over the past several years, an increasing amount of organizations have been moving their applications from on-premises to cloud-hosted platforms. And with the current pandemic forcing most businesses to adopt a fully remote work environment, the cloud is even more appealing. Gartner reported that cloud spend rose by double digits in 2020, and it’s expected to continue to grow by 18.4 percent in 2021.

As a result of the worldwide pandemic, technology companies were forced to pivot to fully remote operations. For many organizations, this meant accelerating their digital transformation efforts. But despite the investment in digital transformation efforts, there haven’t been enough investments in security measures.

This is the eighth entry in the blog series on using Java Cryptography securely. The first few entries talked about architectural details, Cryptographically Secure Random Number Generators, encryption/decryption, and message digests. Later we looked at What’s New in the latest Java version. All of this equipped us to talk in detail about some of the most common Cryptographic applications. We started by looking at the symmetric cryptography-based application with Message Authentication Code.

Fixing security findings in your code can be hard. Sometimes you need help from other developers who have solved these problems before. Veracode provides one-on-one time with ex-developers who can coach you through different approaches to address security findings. But sometimes, you don’t really want advice. Instead, you need a boost to help you get through the day of reducing risk in your software.

“Science and technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition, and myth frame our response.” – Author Arthur M. Schlesinger Urban myths rely on their communities of origin to thrive and survive.