A Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) is a term that refers to any business whose ownership (51% or more than that) rests with socially and financially underprivileged person/s. The business needs to be small, which you can assess by the number of employees. If you run a SDB, you need to prove the above to qualify for federal benefit programs.
Of course, there are separate requirements for each program, some of which include The HUBZone Program, The 8(a) Business Development Program and The Women-Owned Small Business Federal contracting program. As you may already know, software development is an imperative aspect of any small business. DevSecOps is the most recent buzzword in software development. It stands for Development, Security, and Operations. This is crucial for small enterprises for several reasons as it automatically factors in security at every stage of the software development process.
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The Importance of DevSecOps for Small Disadvantaged Businesses
Any business, especially smaller, more vulnerable ones can receive several benefits from incorporating DevSecOps in their software development process. It benefits small disadvantaged businesses with limited funding as it is less costly than the traditional security execution methods. The earlier you adopt a DevSecOps approach, the less hassle you will have to deal with. As the business scales, solving such issues would be more complex and costly.
Stronger Security
Before DevSecOps, cyber safety was often last-minute contemplation. An independent security team would implement this security in a disorganized manner without any thought or planning related to how this would fit within the application itself. This would prove counterproductive, rendering the business at a higher risk of cyber attacks. Small disadvantaged businesses have much to learn from prior cyber attacks like Uber’s security breach in 2017 and the hijack of Tesla’s Cloud. They need improved security right from the start, not as a mere after-thought.
DevSecOps takes security into consideration right from the start. This means that the codes would be proactively scanned, reviewed and audited at every stage of the software development cycle, which beefs up overall security. As a result of these micro-updates, any issues are tended to as soon as they are spotted, preventing further problems from occurring. This saves time, and the software from the latest cyber threats and vulnerabilities.
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Improved Collaboration
A DevSecOps culture requires that all team members (employees) should have some level of knowledge about different fields and genres. The IT team should have some know-how on security and the security team should know a bit about IT operations and software development.
When all members of the organization are informed, this fosters improved collaboration. Instead of the departments working in silos, they all work in harmony, bringing something to the table. All employees effectively have to take security into consideration, which in turn helps keep all their applications compliant, safe and secure from vulnerabilities. This also helps relieve some of the burdens of the security team and embeds security at every level of software development.
Faster Software Delivery
Development of applications without DevSecOps results in huge delays. Now that enterprises are quickly jumping on the bandwagon, small disadvantaged businesses need to as well. More so, in fact. By ensuring faster deliveries, they can cut down on costs and use those funds elsewhere.
The integration of DevSecOps speeds up this process and removes the need for repeating processes due to security concerns. By eliminating unnecessary reviews and rebuilds, small disadvantaged businesses can ensure a more secure code.
Seamless Integration
DevSecOps ensures seamless security integration into the infrastructure and the applications of the small disadvantaged business. It has a natural evolution so that the whole organization approaches security in a smooth and uninterrupted manner.
It allows the corrective action of errors when they are simple and not too complicated. Small businesses can easily adopt a DevSecOp approach without it hampering the pace of software development.
Modernization
The new-age customer is aware and demands a safe and secure application right from the start. Without DevSecOp, you will have to rely on a traditional security implementation approach where security experts wouldn’t be able to keep up with this quick demand.
When larger businesses are quick to catch on, small businesses need to be more proactive and adopt modernization in their software development procedure. This not only benefits you, but your end-users who will then be likely to come back for more.
Best Practices of DevSecOp Adoption
Now that we know the benefits it can relay to small disadvantaged businesses, how do you adopt a DevSecOp approach? Of course, the best DevSecOps practices depend largely on the individual needs and goals of your organization, but here is a general overview.
Shift Left Approach
DevSecOp warrants a security shift from the center to the left. This helps to secure every step of the software development process. The idea of this is to cut down rebuilding repetition, which would incur unnecessary costs for small disadvantaged businesses that already have access to limited funds. It also effectively wards off surprise security attacks right at the end of the software development cycle, where they would be very difficult to avoid.
Security Training
It is mandatory to train developers regarding the importance and demand of security. Every developer who writes and deploys a code should understand that security is a part of their duties, and not just an additional aspect. You should develop security training for developers, teaching them to:
- Use the available DevSecOp security tools
- Embed security within the software development process
- Check for any vulnerabilities
Small Disadvantaged Business
Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) provides access to specialized skills and capabilities contributing to improved competitiveness and efficiency.
Add a Threat Assessment Method
Developers should be able to view the software from a potential attacker’s perspective. This would help them when they are writing code. This mechanism would help you spot any possible vulnerability within the system architecture and design. It also paves the way for seamless security integration.
Conclusion
The days when security would be the final step in the software development cycle are long gone! Security is a crucial aspect in software development, shielding you from potential attacks and vulnerabilities early on. Using DevSecOp helps small disadvantaged businesses save time and money and alleviate the burden on their security experts. Dividing the workload between departments will ensure security is the responsibility of each and every employee, paving the way for quality, safe service to the small business’s end-user.
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