In the rapidly evolving landscape of software development, maintaining robust security measures while ensuring a smooth developer experience is paramount. Integrating an Application Security Posture product with Backstage integration can significantly streamline both security and development operations. This blog post explores the benefits, processes, and best practices of this integration.
Understanding the Integration
What is Application Security Posture?
Application Security Posture refers to the overall security status of software applications, including the security of the code, dependencies, and infrastructure. It’s a comprehensive approach that encompasses the identification, assessment, and mitigation of security risks throughout the application lifecycle.
OpsMx has chosen to start the integration process by allowing organizations to leverage a single source of truth (Backstage) for Business Units and Teams along with Application and Service Structure. Eventually we will build a plugin with Backstage allowing our customer to leverage the Backstage UI for managing Application Security Posture Management via Deploy Shield acting as the functional layer for data gathering, correlation of security data, and deployment enforcement via the Deployment Firewall.
What is Backstage?
Backstage is an open platform for building developer portals. It consolidates all the infrastructure tooling, services, and documentation a developer needs in one place and provides an effective way for team members to manage applications and services.
The Benefits of Integration
Centralized View of Security and Developer Tools
Integrating Deploy Shield with Backstage will provide teams with a single pane of glass to view and manage the security aspects of their applications alongside other developer tools. This is an objective that OpsMx will look to tackle later in 2024.
Streamlined Workflows
By bringing security tools into the developer’s environment, the integration reduces context switching and makes it easier for developers to address security issues as part of their regular workflow. Another example of where OpsMx will look to set up a bi-direction data flow.
Enhanced Security Compliance
Consistent visibility and management of security posture ensures that security standards are met throughout the development process, aiding in compliance with regulatory requirements.
Improved Developer Experience
Developers can access security insights and tools without leaving their development environment, improving efficiency and satisfaction.
OpsMx Vision on How to Integrate
The initial integration will be available as part of the Deploy Shield setup process. Backstage is used as a single source of truth for both development team structure along with application structure (application components such as API backends, databases, and container images) and metadata about the application. This will be followed by the ability to leverage tools integration via Backstage and an eventual plugin that will allow Backstage to query the Deploy Shield data to present in-context information to developer.
Best Practices
Deploy Shield will unlock continuous monitoring and improvement: Regularly review and update the security measures and integration based on new security threats and developer feedback, all consolidated in a single place for developers and other stakeholders.
Feedback Loops
Encourage developers to provide feedback on the integration and the tools available within Backstage. This will help in refining and improving the integration over time.
Security as Code
Where possible, automate security policies and procedures using code. This makes security an integral part of the development process. Deploy Shield will unlock the ability to drive security as code through the ability to manage security and deployment policy via Git. This will allow developers and security stakeholders to add policy and security checks / guardrails via the normal development process.
Conclusion
Integrating Deploy Shield from OpsMx with Backstage can dramatically improve both security and developer experience. By providing developers with the tools and insights they need within their regular environment, organizations can ensure a more secure and efficient development process. As with any integration, it’s important to continuously monitor, update, and educate team members to adapt to the ever-changing security landscape. With the right approach, the integration of Deploy Shield with Backstage will be a game-changer for software development teams.
Stay tuned to this Blog for more detailed information around timelines and announcements as we start to roll out the various levels of integration.
About OpsMx
OpsMx is a leading innovator and thought leader in the Secure Software Delivery space. Leading technology companies such as Google, Cisco, Western Union, among others rely on OpsMx to ship better software faster.
OpsMx Deploy Shield adds DevSecOps to your existing CI/CD tools with application security orchestration, correlation, and posture management capabilities.
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