10 Best DevSecOps Practices For Secure Development

DevSecOps best practices help you build secure software without slowing development, yet only 29% of companies have successfully transitioned from DevOps to DevSecOps. Most teams still struggle to integrate security seamlessly into workflows. 

Traditional DevOps prioritizes speed and agility. But when security is treated as an afterthought, vulnerabilities pile up, increasing risks and compliance headaches. 

However, DevSecOps embeds security at every stage, from design to coding, testing, and deployment, to help you address threats before they become time-consuming problems that invite hefty penalties.

With ever-evolving cyber threats and stricter regulations, shifting from DevOps to DevSecOps is no longer optional; rather, a necessity. In this post, let's explore the 10 best DevSecOps practices to help you stay ahead.

DevSecOps meaning

DevSecOps combines development, security, and operations. It's a culture, automation, and platform design approach emphasizing security as a shared responsibility throughout the IT lifecycle.

DevSecOps involves designing applications and infrastructure with security in mind immediately. It also includes automating some security checkpoints to avoid slowing down the existing DevOps process. Choosing the correct tools to continuously integrate security, such as deciding on an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with security capabilities, can assist in achieving these objectives. 

Benefits of following the best DevSecOps practices 

1. Fast and cost-efficient software delivery

Delivering software efficiently is always the goal, but the longer a vulnerability remains undetected, the higher the chance of attackers finding and exploiting it. 

DevSecOps solves this problem by embedding security into every stage of development. This allows you to detect and fix issues early when they are easier and more cost-effective to resolve. 

What does this mean for your team? Reduced rework, accelerated release cycles, and lower costs allow the DevSecOps team to deliver secure, high-quality software faster and more efficiently.

For instance, according to Rezilion’s The State of Vulnerability Management report, organizations consider reducing the time it takes to patch vulnerabilities (45%) and reducing costs (40%) to be important reasons for adopting DevSecOps in their workflows.

2. Security built in from the start

By integrating security into development from the start, you shift from a reactive approach to a proactive one, where you identify and mitigate risks before they impact your application. This strengthens security and offers your team greater control over the risk profile, reducing surprises and ensuring a more resilient product. 

3. Rapid vulnerability fixes

DevSecOps enables fast vulnerability remediation by integrating security across the entire software development lifecycle. 

For instance, automated scans such as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), SCA, and IAST detect real-time weaknesses in applications, infrastructure, and dependencies.

Moreover, DevSecOps fosters collaboration between development, security, and operations teams. With shared responsibility, real-time alerts, and clear workflows, vulnerabilities are addressed as soon as they emerge.

4. Automation that fits modern development

Modern development moves fast and security needs to keep up. With DevSecOps, you can integrate security automation directly into your CI/CD pipeline, ensuring that security checks run without disrupting your workflow. 

In fact, Black Duck's 2024 Global State of DevSecOps report shows that 35% of respondents highlighted the importance of automating security processes and simplifying test configurations. Security becomes a seamless part of development by adapting to modern software practices without adding friction.

5. Scalable and flexible security processes

Manual security testing shouldn’t slow you down as the number of applications and their complexities grow. DevSecOps ensures that security processes scale with your development efforts, adapting to changing requirements without creating bottlenecks. 

By leveraging automation, security checks become repeatable and consistent no matter how many deployments you handle. Plus, with flexible security policies and real-time monitoring, you can address threats dynamically and ensure protection without compromising speed or agility.

6. Easier compliance 

DevSecOps streamlines compliance by automating security checks for regulatory requirements like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2. Continuous monitoring also detects compliance gaps early, reducing audit burdens and preventing costly last-minute fixes.

DevSecOps best practices 

1. Adopting the shift-left approach

In DevSecOps, security works best when integrated early, which is the core concept of “shift left.” Instead of treating security as a final checkpoint before release, embed it from the early stage of SDLC (when your developer wrote the source code). 

To get started with shift left, set clear security policies so you know when and how tests should run. Also, define roles and responsibilities upfront, such as whether your developers or security engineers will handle fixes. 

Prioritize risks to avoid wasting time on low-priority issues. 

2. Continuous monitoring and feedback 

Security isn’t a one-time check—it’s an ongoing process. That’s why you must make continuous monitoring and feedback a core DevSecOps practice to secure your applications.

Here’s how: Set up automated alerts to flag security issues in real time and ensure developers get instant feedback on potential threats. Establish the right feedback loops and continuously adjust your security monitoring to new threats. 

For instance, your security team should use developer insights to fine-tune security controls, while developers must leverage security feedback to refine application designs. This way, you can detect threats faster and work on remediation quickly to create a development pipeline that stays secure always. 

3. Collaboration between dev, sec, and ops teams 

The success of DevSecOps depends heavily on seamless collaboration between your development, security, and operations teams. Therefore, security is a shared effort.

So ensure your teams collaborate from design and development to deployment and beyond, proactively identifying threats and strengthening your application’s security at every stage.

Here's what you can do: Appoint champions in development, security, and operations teams to drive participation and set up clear, shared goals and objectives. Ensure everyone sees security's value and promote transparent communication between your teams.

4. Automate security testing within the CI/CD pipeline 

Manual security testing, such as manual code reviews and compliance checks, can take days or weeks and may result in high numbers of errors. Automation in security testing is non-negotiable to expedite vulnerability assessment without slowing down application development. 

Choose a comprehensive application security testing tool that offers automated SAST, DAST, SCA, and API testing to run automated scans and identify threats as they happen. 

With these automated security testing tools for DevSecOps teams, you can continuously assess vulnerabilities, receive real-time alerts, and minimize disruptions.

5. Security as code 

Implement Security as Code (SaC) to embed security directly into your development process, ensuring it’s automated, consistent, and scalable. Instead of relying on last-minute fixes, you must define security policies, access controls, and testing as code. 

Here's how you can get started: 

• Write security rules as code to enforce governance, such as restricting data storage locations or enforcing secure coding practices.
• Implement role-based access control (RBAC) and least-privilege policies as code. Define permissions for users and services to prevent unauthorized access.
• Embed security best practices into your Terraform, CloudFormation, or other IaC templates. Ensure encryption, secure authentication, and compliance from the start.
• Set up real-time monitoring and alerts to detect security issues. For instance,  regular audits and automated compliance checks would help you stay ahead of threats

6. Security education and training 

Continuous security education and team training are essential to keeping your organization ahead of evolving threats and vulnerabilities. So, hold regular workshops, webinars, and training sessions to update your team about recent threats and defenses. This will help you adapt quickly to changing threats and foster a culture of ongoing learning. 

7. Incident response planning 

Have an incident response (IR) plan to resolve security incidents more effectively and minimize potential damage and downtime. Here are some of the key steps that you can take to integrate incident response into DevSecOps: 

• Form a cross-functional team for incident response comprising members from development, operations, and security. This ensures diverse perspectives and expertise in handling incidents, leading to more effective responses.
• Create detailed, scenario-specific guides outlining the steps during various security incidents. These playbooks should provide a clear roadmap to reduce confusion and response times during actual events.
• Set up systems to continuously monitor your applications and infrastructure and capture logs that you can analyze for anomalies. When an incident occurs, you need to assess the damage quickly. -
• A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) can enhance visibility by providing a clear inventory of all software components, including third-party and open-source dependencies. It allows you to track vulnerabilities faster and determine your exposure so you can respond more effectively.
• Perform a thorough post-incident analysis to identify the root cause. For future reference, document the process, such as what happened, the steps taken to contain it, and what could have been done better.

8. Culture: People, processes, technology 

To make DevSecOps truly effective, you need a culture where your processes, teams, and technology align to integrate security seamlessly into development. This means fostering collaboration, ensuring clear security workflows, and using the right tools to support automation and real-time threat detection.

You can encourage shared responsibility by breaking down silos between development, security, and operations teams. Standardize your security processes with well-defined policies, continuous training, and security champions who drive awareness. When you build security into daily workflows and do not treat it as an afterthought, you can create a resilient, high-trust development environment.

9. Penetration testing 

A combination of manual and automated penetration testing is a must-follow DevSecOps practice for proactively identifying and fixing security weaknesses before attackers can exploit them. 

For instance, you can automate scans weekly in your CI/CD pipeline security, perform monthly manual pen tests on critical systems, and run quarterly full-scale adversary simulations to test real-world attack resilience. 

10. Vulnerability management 

Finally, effective vulnerability management is another DevSecOps best practice that you must follow to keep your applications secure. It’s not enough to detect vulnerabilities. You also need a structured approach to resolve them without disrupting development. 

Here's how you can go about it:

• Begin by uploading your app's binary file (such as APK, AAB, or IPA) or providing a direct link to trigger the automated security assessment process.
• Start by categorizing vulnerabilities based on severity, exploitability, and business impact, ensuring that the most critical threats are addressed first.
• Schedule regular scans to proactively identify and address new vulnerabilities, thereby maintaining your application's security integrity over time.
• Next, establish clear ownership by assigning vulnerabilities to specific teams with defined deadlines for resolution.
• Use real-time dashboards to track progress and enforce service-level agreements (SLAs) for remediation timelines. 
• Finally, verify fixes through automated retesting and update security policies to address recurring issues.

How can Appknox help you implement DevSecOps? 

Appknox is a comprehensive mobile application security testing platform that helps enterprises like yours safeguard apps by detecting and addressing vulnerabilities. 

Unlike automation-only solutions, Appknox combines automated vulnerability scanning with expert-led manual testing (VAPT) to deliver a deeper, more accurate security assessment. With its system-plus-human approach, Appknox provides continuous security insights to help you stay ahead of evolving threats.

With a strong focus on software supply chain security, here's how Appknox integrates seamlessly into DevSecOps workflows, enabling you to embed security checks early in the development process. 

1. Shift left security testing 

Appknox enables early vulnerability detection by integrating SAST and DAST into CI/CD pipelines. With automated SAST, DAST, and API security testing tools, you can identify risks in code, runtime environments, and third-party integrations before they become critical. By shifting security left, Appknox reduces the effort and cost of remediation and ensures a more secure application from the start.

2. Automation for speed and accuracy 

Appknox automates security checks and eliminates manual bottlenecks, ensuring faster testing cycles with minimal human intervention. You can detect vulnerabilities in less than 60 minutes through automated scans. 

Additionally, Appknox provides detailed security assessment reports that clearly reveal vulnerabilities, regulatory details, CVSS scoring, and remediation steps. As a result, you can prioritize fixes efficiently and maintain a strong security posture throughout the development lifecycle.

3. Reduced false positives

One of the challenges in security testing is the occurrence of false positives, which can lead to wasted resources and delayed development cycles. Appknox addresses this by offering <1% false positives and negatives, allowing your security teams to focus on genuine vulnerabilities that require attention. 

4. Seamless CI/CD integration 

Appknox integrates directly into your CI/CD pipelines, running automated security checks without slowing down development. You can catch vulnerabilities early and fix them before deployment. With support for GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins, Bitbucket, Azure, and more, Appknox keeps your security workflow smooth and efficient.

5. Comprehensive security coverage 

The platform offers comprehensive security coverage by combining SAST, DAST, API endpoint testing, and manual penetration testing to provide deep insights into potential vulnerabilities. This ensures that security gaps are detected at every development lifecycle stage.

Beyond pre-release testing, Appknox also provides continuous post-deployment monitoring through Storeknox. The solution scans published apps for real-time security risks, policy violations, and emerging threats. This way, you can ensure security throughout the application’s lifecycle. 

Conclusion 

Moving to DevSecOps helps embed security into development, ensuring vulnerabilities are caught early and resolved efficiently. You can reduce risks by shifting security left, automating security testing, and fostering collaboration without slowing innovation. Continuous monitoring and structured vulnerability management keep your applications resilient against evolving threats.

Moreover, with the right DevSecOps tool, like Appknox, you can take security to the next level and eliminate the chances of late-stage vulnerability detection, which can lead to a higher cost of remediation and possible breaches. 

Besides, Appknox’s mobile-first approach helps enterprises easily navigate the complex landscape of mobile-specific vulnerabilities and gain more visibility into SDKs, libraries, and other third-party components with its comprehensive SBOM coverage.

Take control of your app portfolio before it becomes a business threat.

Try Appknox for free today!