Since these operations usually involve money, financial institutions and their customers have become prime targets by cybercriminals. In fact, a report from Statista showed that the average cost of data breaches for financial agencies worldwide is $5.72 million as of 2021.
Apart from the monetary damages caused by the malicious acts of hackers, there is also a negative effect it has on brand reputation and its impact on the business in the future.
These problems have led companies in the FinTech app development niche to have an increased demand for reliable, transparent, and smart security measures. Such organisations need to have the protocols and technology in place so they can deliver secure products that will compete in their respective markets.
This is where DevSecOps comes in.
What is DevSecOps?
If DevOps stands for development and operations, then DevSecOps is for development, security, and operations. It is an approach to software development and design that puts security at a high priority compared to what it used to be.
DevSecOps sees the automation of security integration in every stage of the development lifecycle – from the initial plan all the way to testing and launch. Not too long ago, the aspect of security was only added by the end of the software development cycle. It was often accomplished by an independent security group and also had a separate quality assurance team to test it.
This approach used to be ideal when software development agencies only released app updates just a few times each year. Yet as developers began adopting more agile practices, the conventional process became a bottleneck that hindered teams from completing their tasks on time.
The concept behind DevSecOps is to seamlessly integrate infrastructure security and application development into the existing DevOps and agile processes. It takes into account security concerns as soon as they are spotted, which makes resolving these issues faster, simpler, and less costly for developers.
Furthermore, DevSecOps transforms software and security into a shared and collaborative responsibility. All teams – development, security, and operations – will be responsible for ensuring the secure design, creation, and delivery of software products.
DevSecOps’ role in finance app development
A finance application’s security is mainly evaluated based on how well it can process transactions and protect sensitive user information. With finances on the line, the smallest security blunder can mean negative reviews, damaged reputations, and lost customers.
This is why the finance industry is considered one of the most heavily regulated sectors today. Before they can be used, finance software needs to accomplish rigorous requirements while providing its end-users with the latest features.
Apart from the standard regulations, finance app development companies are also subject to local and international privacy laws.
With numerous privacy regulations and growing customer expectations to satisfy, software developers in the finance industry found it necessary to apply security measures as early as the planning phase. That is why the DevSecOps environment came into being.
It allows finance software developers to integrate core security tasks and checks in the app development cycle. This then takes away the usual bottlenecks that occur between the security team, developers, and the operations group. Furthermore, the approach is designed to prevent risks while encouraging everyone involved to minimise security-related mistakes.
Benefits of DevSecOps for finance app development companies
Increasing security is nothing new in the DevOps environments, with such concepts having been used for many years now. However, DevSecOps has seen a spike in popularity even for new and established practitioners.
So what makes this environment so popular in finance app development? Here are some benefits to consider:
- Faster output without compromising security: Having multiple security checks throughout the app development lifecycle can be time-consuming due to the bottlenecks these cause. In DevSecOps, software security is performed on an ongoing basis so that development can continue. With this approach, development teams can save a great deal of time without settling for lower security standards.
- Reliable security procedures: DevSecOps is transparent and it provides a clear view of which trustworthy teams are best for solving problems at certain stages. Its concept is based on identifying and resolving issues early on so that the end-product has higher overall quality than performing security checks at the end of the development cycle.
- Compliance is guaranteed: Besides applying a smart approach in software development, DevSecOps is also about enhancing finance app security for end-users. This means that practitioners need to be compliant with the latest laws to help protect customer data.
- More time for improvement: Since DevSecOps is all about improved reliability and speed, financial practitioners can have more free time to pursue other activities that benefit the organisation.
- Reduce overall expenses in the development cycle: With automation at the forefront of DevSecOps, the approach helps lower costs of security operations for the development firm. It also minimises the chances of being penalised due to inadequate security.
Conclusion
With the finance sector being continuously and heavily regulated by various entities, it’s only reasonable for app developers in this industry to adopt an agile, security-forward approach. DevSecOps is being considered as the next evolution of DevOps as it puts security as one of the main priorities in software development.
By identifying and resolving vulnerabilities as they arise in the app development lifecycle, FinTech, finance, and banking app developers help guarantee that their end-users will get the best possible products to fulfil their needs.
At Payconiq International, we are a full-stack development company that has complete ownership of the technology and IP that we use. These components allow us to be agile, flexible, and quicker in helping clients make important business decisions.
We leverage a DevSecOps framework that has continuous threat modelling and automated security scanning applied throughout our app development lifecycle. If you wish to know more, contact Payconiq today.
References:
1. Statista. Average cost of data breaches worldwide as of 2021, by industry. https://www.statista.com/statistics/387861/cost-data-breach-industry/
