According to a recent GitLab survey, 66% of developers are releasing software faster than they were a year ago, 24% are pushing code into production daily and 13% multiple times a day. The pace of development is relentless and so is the need for innovation and deployment. But this speed comes with its own set of challenges, especially when it comes to security.
The 2024 State of DevOps Report by Puppet shows that 43% of organizations have a dedicated security and compliance team, so security is being recognized as part of the DevOps process. The report highlights that these platform teams are focusing on integrating security into the development pipeline, with built-in security and compliance as a key deliverable of self-service platforms.
But there’s still a big gap between the pace of development and the implementation of security practices. As we get into this topic, we’ll look at how organizations like Checkmarx are bridging that gap, with solutions that help maintain the speed of software delivery while improving security.
Why DevOps teams push faster
DevOps has changed software development by focusing on collaboration, automation, and rapid iteration. This has brought:
- Faster time to market: You can respond to market and user feedback quickly.
- More productivity: Automation and streamlined processes mean less manual work and bottlenecks.
- Happier customers: More frequent updates and new features keep users engaged.
- Competitive advantage: Organizations that can innovate fast win.
Speed has become the top priority for many teams. Being able to push code out quickly has become a key metric, with some organizations doing multiple deployments a day.
Why security can’t be an afterthought
Historically, speed and security were considered mutually exclusive. Security was viewed as a roadblock that slowed down the development process. This led to some bad practices that slowed down both efficiency and security.
Security was treated as an afterthought, implemented at the end of the development cycle, which meant last-minute fixes and project delays. Development and security teams worked in silos, which meant communication gaps and inefficiencies that slowed down vulnerability resolution.
Manual security processes added to the burden, time-consuming checks that delayed deployments. Developers would resist security measures, seeing them as obstacles to productivity rather than enablers of secure coding.
As a result, organizations would have to choose between meeting tight deadlines or having robust security, often sacrificing one for the other. While speed is important, security is key. The consequences of not having security are severe:
- Data breaches: Exposing user data can cost you money and damage your reputation.
- Compliance: Many industries have strict context-specific privacy regulations.
- Loss of customer trust: Security incidents can lose you customers.
- Financial impact: The cost of recovering from a breach can be huge, including fines, legal fees, and lost business.
Recent high-profile breaches have shown us just how important security is. As threats get more clever and more frequent, security has never been more critical.
Checkmarx: Bridging the gap between speed and security
The realization that speed and security are non-negotiable has led to a paradigm shift in software development. The industry has adopted the “shift left” approach, which means security is integrated earlier in the development lifecycle. This has changed the way security is perceived and implemented, allowing teams to address vulnerabilities proactively, not reactively.
By identifying security risks early on, organizations can fix issues before they become critical, reducing the cost and effort to remediate. Security becomes a continuous part of development, not a last-minute check. It takes a culture of proactive risk management. Instead of seeing security as an obstacle, developers become part of the security team.
Checkmarx has become the leader in solving the speed vs. security dilemma by providing a full suite of tools that fit into the DevOps workflow. Here’s how Checkmarx addresses this:
1. Automated security testing
Checkmarx’s SAST and SCA tools automate the process of finding vulnerabilities in custom code and open-source components. This automation means:
- Fast scanning: Security checks can be done quickly without slowing down development.
- Continuous integration: Security scans can be integrated into CI/CD pipelines so every code change is checked.
- Broad coverage: A wide range of vulnerabilities can be detected across multiple languages and frameworks.
2. Developer-focused approach
We know developers are key to security, so Checkmarx provides tools that fit into the developer workflow:
- IDE Integration: Security scans can be run directly from the developer’s IDE.
- Best fix location: The tool tells you where to fix the issue, saving time and reducing errors.
- Educational resources: Developers get context-specific guidance on how to fix the issue, so they learn security over time.
3. Risk-based prioritization
Not all vulnerabilities are equal. Checkmarx uses advanced algorithms to prioritize issues by severity and impact:
- Focused remediation: Teams can fix the most critical issues first, so resources are used efficiently.
- Reduced false positives: Intelligent analysis reduces the noise of false alarms, so teams can focus on real threats.
- Contextual analysis: The tool considers the application’s architecture and business context when assessing risk.
4. Collaboration
Checkmarx helps communication between development and security teams:
- Shared dashboards: Both teams can see the security status of projects in real-time.
- Customizable workflows: Security processes can be tailored to each organization’s needs.
- Integration with issue tracking: Security findings can be logged into familiar project management tools.
5. Compliance
For organizations with regulatory requirements, Checkmarx provides:
- Pre-configured policies: Out of the box settings for common compliance standards like GDPR, HIPAA and PCI-DSS.
- Audit trail: Full logging of security activity for compliance reporting.
- Custom policy creation: Organizations can create and enforce their own security policies.
A new paradigm
The question “Is speed better than security?” is based on an old way of thinking about software development. Checkmarx shows you how - with the right tools and practices, you can have rapid development cycles and robust security.
By shifting security left, automating critical processes, and getting development and security teams to work together, Checkmarx enables a new paradigm where speed and security reinforce each other. In this model, secure coding practices become part of the development process, and you get faster deployments of more secure applications.
As the software industry evolves, the integration of security into DevOps (often referred to as DevSecOps) will become more and more important. Organisations that adopt this approach with tools like Checkmarx will be well-placed to meet the dual challenges of innovation and security in a complex digital world.
