DevOps vs. DevSecOps: Choosing the Right Fit for Your Organization

Are you and your teams trying to keep up with the emergent modern approach to software development and deployment? Learn about the distinctions between DevOps and DevSecOps. Find out about their very important roles in current development practices.

If you are already employing DevOps in your company, the transition to DevSecOps is a smooth one. Security must be integrated throughout the software development lifecycle to protect your organization, as well as your customers. DevOps has been designed to be fast and efficient- but not secure. This is where DevSecOps changes the game; it is based on the fundamental of embedding security within software development right from the very start.

Businesses demand flexibility, operational effectiveness, and continuous safety. Convinced that these goals require the services of DevOps Engineers, more often than not hinging on the right software development methodology.

Let’s hit pause and think about some of the challenges you’re currently up against:

• Feature releases that are slow sapping away your edge over the competition.
• Processes so inefficient they’re bleeding your budget and resources dry.
• Does the constantly “evolving” threat landscape have you freaking out?

These do have a significant impact on your overall success. As we go along in this article, we’ll throw some light on the major differences between DevOps and DevSecOps and how the latter has become the organic extension of the former.

What is DevOps?

DevOps is the convergence of development and operations. It refers to a methodology in software development that intends to merge or dismantle silos between two very distinct groups: the developers and the operations support people. Collaboration, automation, and continuous improvement across the lifecycle of software development are key tenets.

What are the Benefits of DevOps?

1. Launch fast: DevOps reduces the delivery cycle so the products can be launched much earlier, reaching users before your competitors.

2. Improved Quality: As DevOps is based on continuous feedback, where software is continuously improved, the quality is enhanced, thereby keeping your customers happy. The implementation of DevOps helped Netflix become a leading entertainment brand.

3. Increased Collaboration: Innovations are not made by individuals but by teams that work together efficiently. DevOps emphasizes a culture of open cooperation, where everyone feels accountable for their action.

Every good thing comes with some challenges, and DevOps hasn’t been spared. Let’s see the typical challenges you may face with DevOps.

What are the Challenges of DevOps?

1. Slow Acceptance: DevOps is a methodology that requires a cultural change. The cultural change may be too much for many of the staff, and some may walk away. DevOps calls for breaking down silos in your organization and bringing the team together. Expect some slow acceptance.

2. Security Integration: The focus of DevOps is on agility and speed. This means security often gets sidelined or happens only in the end. This can potentially leave your system vulnerable to attacks.

3. Complex Tools: DevOps has complex CI/CD pipelines, which makes selecting the right tools extremely daunting. However, DevOps consulting can help you here.

The Emergence of DevSecOps

Although DevOps produces advantages over its predecessor, the conventional software development life cycle, it has a very critical drawback. DevOps does not encompass the security aspect of software applications. The emergence of DevSecOps was necessitated by the need to inculcate security risk considerations from the beginning of the development process rather than an afterthought.

It underscores the assimilation of security principles into the lifecycle of software development as a move toward an increasingly proactive and collaborative approach to security. DevSecOps makes a great deal in those industries where security holds primary importance, such as healthcare, the legal industry, and the manufacturing industry.

These factors shall be measured based on their value and effect on a company implementing DevSecOps in 2025 and beyond. Let's go ahead and depict the graph.

Source: The Business Research Company

Six key aspects have been elicited for the growing significance of DevSecOps.

1. Improved Security Posture: With the highest importance, indicating that strengthening security measures is a primary goal of DevSecOps.

2. Cost Reduction: Shows a high rating of importance, since securing issues fixed and detected early in the development cycle is synonymous with huge savings that can be made.

3. Compliance and Risk Management: DevSecOps makes it easier to implement the legal and regulatory provisions while simultaneously managing the security risks.

4. Speed and Efficiency in Development: This underscores how security can be built in parallel with the development process without a trade-off on speed or efficiency.

5. Enhanced Collaboration and Culture: It speaks about improved team collaboration and organizational culture that is positively touched by DevSecOps.

6. Customer Trust and Satisfaction: This goes into the tie for highest importance, reflecting that security is very much at the heart of building and retaining customer trust.

What are the Benefits of DevSecOps?

• It identifies security risks right from the early stages of development so that proactive security measures can be taken to reduce vulnerability and breaches.

• Since code is continually scanned for vulnerability, security issues are identified and addressed earlier; thus, downtime and costs are minimized.

• It significantly improves security regulation and standards like HIPAA, reducing audit risks.

Just like every other thing has benefits, DevSecOps also has some challenges. Let’s take a look at them.

What are the Challenges of DevSecOps?

• Widened skills gaps: DevOps talent is already hardly pressed, and throwing security into the mix makes it even harder to find that expert who will be able to lead the DevSecOps team and follow the practice judiciously.

• Process Integration: Integration of security from the beginning of software development means a change in process flow and tools used. That becomes problematic.

• Navigating cultural shift: Just as the DevOps process requires a cultural shift in the perception of security from the very beginning, so does DevSecOps. Large organizations find it rather difficult to embrace such a vast change; hence, employees are slow in its adoption.

What are the Critical Differences in DevOps vs. DevSecOps?

What is DevSecOps Process?

DevSecOps is the acronym for Development, Security, and Operations. It incorporates security methodologies into the DevOps workflow. DevSecOps represents a mindset, approach, and action toward merging application creation (Dev), protection (Sec), and management (Ops) for achieving swift, secure, and superior software output. The DevSecOps methodology melds protective actions and examinations cohesively with the fabrication and launch stages. Below is a summary of the DevSecOps procedure:

1. Planning

• Integration of Security Goals: The security requirements are elicited and integrated into the planning stages. This means identifying security requirements and integrating them with the objectives of a project.
• Threat Modeling: Teams do threat modeling to identify threats as well as communicate and understand threats and mitigations in the context of something that can be protected.

2. Development

• Code Analysis SAST Tools: Facilitate Static Application Security Testing by providing source code analysis for security vulnerabilities at the very beginning of implementation.
• Dependency Scanning: It scans dependencies for known vulnerabilities so as to make sure that libraries and packages are being used in the project are secure.
• Secure Coding Practices Secure coding guidelines help developers reduce vulnerability right from the beginning of development.

3. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)

• Automated Security Testing: Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), Software Composition Analysis (SCA), and all other security tests are automated as a part of the CI/CD pipeline to identify vulnerabilities in every build.
• Configuration Management: Making sure configurations are defined securely for servers, applications, and infrastructure, and that they are applied consistently.
• Secrets Management: Secure management of secrets by encrypting them and access control through proper tools and practices.

4. Deployment

• Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) Security: Scan the infrastructure-as-code templates, such as Terraform and CloudFormation, for misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.
• Container Security: Secure containerized environments by scanning container images for vulnerabilities, alongside runtime security.

5. Operations

• Monitoring and Response: Ongoing observation of the application and infrastructure for any security incidents or anomalies, combined with a ready incident response plan to tackle issues promptly.
• Feedback Loops: Data from operations goes back into both development and planning stages to make sure there is steady enhancement of security measures.

6. Culture and Training

• Collaboration and Communication: Getting the development, security, and operations teams to talk openly helps build a shared feeling of responsibility for security.
• Security Training and Awareness: training classes for all key people on best security steps, new dangers, and how important security is in their work.

DevSecOps enforces security as a shared responsibility of all the teams engaged in the lifecycle of software development, rather than being isolated or appended later. With the integration of security from the beginning and automation of security validations, organizations are enabled to deploy faster with reduced risk attached to it.

How Businesses Can Transition from DevOps to DevSecOps?

Transitioning from DevOps to DevSecOps must be planned carefully. Consider following the steps below for a smooth transition.

1. Start Small: 

DevSecOps is a huge shift for teams if they are to take it on. Best to start small so you do not overwhelm your team.

Comcast’s team tried implementing DevSecOps but failed in their first attempt. On learning this, they took a more cautious step with a small team of sixteen members only. This small group had remarkable success, with the identification of critical vulnerabilities and falling of production security incidents by an impressive 85%.

Comcast’s story illustrates the kind of gains DevSecOps can provide from starting small and especially to organizations that are beginners with the methodology. Even small teams can have significant wins that would then lead to broad adoption and increased security.

2. Understand the Tools Required:

To adapt DevSecOps smoothly, you will need to use the right tools. Below, we have listed four security tools used to practice the DevSecOps approach.

• Static Application Security Testing (SAST): SAST tools analyze source code and identify vulnerabilities early in development. This way, you can address these issues before they become more challenging and costlier.
• Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST): DAST tools assess applications while running to identify security vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit. DAST helps you identify and address potential security issues in their applications.
• Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP): RASP tools are designed to detect and prevent real-time attacks at the application layer. By integrating RASP into the applications, organizations can add another layer of security to protect against potential threats
• Software Composition Analysis (SCA): SCA tools identify and track the use of open-source and third-party components within an application. Using SCA, organizations can identify and address potential security vulnerabilities in their open-source and third-party components.

3. Automate Wherever Possible

Security testing is a long and expensive process that should be automated to the maximum level possible. First, identify vulnerabilities and then automate tests that scan for those particular vulnerabilities in the system. Implement Dynamic Application Security testing practices when implementing DevSecOps workflows, because with it you will be able to ensure the integrity as well as the performance of your applications while they are in production. Automate vulnerability scanning tools, penetration testing tools, and security compliance checks inside your CI/CD pipeline.

4. Educate

The greatest barrier to the implementation of DevSecOps is, like every change, team resistance. Mitigate it through a campaign to educate both stakeholders and team members on how security integrated into the software development lifecycle pays off, and also give an option for training and upskilling existing employees to assure them of a seamless transition. Comcast trained all its team members on DevSecOps adoption and did just awesome!

5. Understand DevSecOps as a Cultural Change

Finally, moving to DevSecOps must be considered as a cultural change. To get organizational buy-in, one has to prove the value of DevSecOps in business, efficiency, and security.

That is what Verizon learned and implemented for DevSecOps, driving culture change within the company. The program that was designed reduced stress on security and development teams. The way to address it is by building a developer dashboard program that integrates vulnerability management with individual accountability.

What Does the Integration of DevSecOps Mean for the Future?

Most firms shall be moving to DevSecOps in the coming days, bringing great advantages to users and firms. For example, DevSecOps will lead to these faults being known sooner and fixed before an app is even given to the market. This will lead to savings for the firms, as IBM Security puts it at $4.24 million.

DevSecOps tools and practices become more available and easier to use for smaller firms and single developers to add security into the flow of work. In simple words, DevSecOps methods take us to that digital world, which is safer as well as friendlier, where personal information is way more secure and applications are way more trusted.

Making the Right Choice For Your Organization

In the end, the right approach depends on your business priorities and channel. If that’s speed, then DevOps is the way. But if security is truly non-negotiable (as it should be for legal, healthcare, and some other industries), then DevSecOps is the way for you.

Ready to make a move? Check in with the Clarion Technology experts to assess your needs, appraise your resources, and craft the right approach for your organization.