The REAL Difference between DevOps and DevSecOps

As the software delivery space gets increasingly competitive, DevOps sets the scene for improved collaboration between development and operations teams that results in more frequent feedback, and hence quicker and better development of cutting-edge products. 

But with security incidents becoming rife, there is a lot of pressure on teams to integrate security into the software development lifecycle –which has given rise to the concept of DevSecOps. 

Although both DevOps and DevSecOps work on the premise of enhanced collaboration between different team members, most organizations look at both concepts as two extremely different approaches to software delivery – which is not how it should be! When it comes to the two concepts, there might be a critical divide in responsibility; but it is worth noting that they both work towards streamlining the code development process, and ensuring deployments are in line with evolving business objectives. 

What is DevOps

Atlassian defines DevOps as “a set of practices that works to automate and integrate the processes between software development and IT teams, so they can build, test, and release software faster and more reliably”. 

By bridging the departmental silo that traditionally existed between development and operations teams, it helps in the continuous, iterative development of software. 

What is DevSecOps

Atlassian defines DevSecOps as “a security-focused, continuous delivery, software development approach that builds on the learnings and best practices of general DevOps”. 

By applying the values of security into the DevOps lifecycle, it ensures security verification is an active and integrated part of the development process. 

Where is the overlap?

When the concept of DevOps was first introduced, the aim was clear – to enhance collaboration with the traditionally-siloed teams, so they can work together to achieve shared goals – as a single team. DevOps also focuses on improving the quality and frequency of feedback, so changes, improvements, and feature updates can easily be made to the product under development. 

But with security becoming a critical component of successful products, teams were compelled to find a way to integrate security – which led to the security acronym being added to the DevOps name. In reality, however, DevOps and DevSecOps work on the same principle of development optimization and shifting left of collaboration, testing, and even security. 

What makes them different?

Although there is no black and white when it comes to DevOps and DevSecOps, they do marginally differ in some ways: 

The software delivery landscape is constantly changing. As the demand for innovation grows, the concepts of DevOps and DevSecOps are allowing organizations to achieve better collaboration, reduced risk, and improved security. 

And although DevOps and DevSecOps are looked at as two entirely different concepts, organizations must realize that DevSecOps is just an extension of DevOps. Both make use of automation and continuous processes to strike the right balance between quality of the output, speed, and security.