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8 Essential DevSecOps Security Tools

Josh Rank
June 8, 2022

Salesforce DevSecOps security tools are an essential aspect of properly securing your Salesforce environment and producing applications and updates that support your data security strategy.

Why It Matters: Traditionally, security considerations weren’t addressed until the last stages of the development pipeline, but this mindset is outdated. DevSecOps includes data security considerations throughout the dev pipeline from the earliest stages all the way to the end.

The importance of secure applications and updates has increased exponentially in recent years.
Additionally, the White House is stressing how critical it is that we as a nation follow proper data security measures to avoid breaches and data loss events.
DevSecOps security tools support data security while also speeding along development processes by automating time-consuming, manual tasks.

Here Are 8 Essential Salesforce Security Tools:

Continuous Integration
Continuous Delivery/Deployment
Static Code Analysis
Dashboards and Reports
Data Backup
Data Recovery
Policy Scanner
Flexible Hosting

1. Continuous Integration

Applications and updates can grow massive, often including thousands of lines of code. Incorporating the efforts of multiple developers is an essential way to delegate various aspects of the software development process and reduce time to market. Each developer works on their own section of the project until they are all combined to create the product as a whole.

Continuous integration is an automated process to incorporate the work of multiple developers into a single software release.

Multi-developer teams often run into problems such as code overwrites and incompatible code. The resulting errors can cause data security vulnerabilities, which is why DevSecOps security tools like continuous integration are essential to an optimized pipeline.

Instituting multiple layers of testing greatly increases the likelihood of catching errors before they make it to production. Increased rates of deployment success and better-functioning applications and updates translate to a higher ROI and a safer platform.

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2. Continuous Delivery/Deployment

Integrating code written by multiple developers is only the first step in ensuring proper functionality of a new update to avoid creating data security vulnerabilities. These features, configurations, and bug fixes must also be tested to make sure they don’t have a negative impact.

Continuous delivery and continuous deployment both refer to the process of getting all types of changes into production.

Additionally, continuous delivery and continuous deployment (CI/CD) both involve testing code integrations for proper functionality. However, there is a key difference—continuous delivery requires manual approval before deployment into production, while continuous deployment does not.

Choosing between continuous delivery and continuous deployment depends on your needs. Companies operating within regulated industries, for instance, may need the extra layer of approval for additional oversight.

However, other companies that prioritize speed and create small, incremental releases can fast-track production by utilizing continuous deployment.

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3. Static Code Analysis

Code health is important to many aspects of an update or application. In fact, a static code analysis is considered a DevSecOps security tool because poor code quality and existing technical debt create back doors that can be exploited by cybercriminals. They can also create errors that lead to data loss events.

Static code analysis provides total visibility into code health from the moment it’s written all the way through production.

Not addressing code quality issues immediately leaves you susceptible to failed deployments, data security threats, and buggy releases. Even the most talented developers are prone to mistakes. This automated tool ensures nothing slips between the cracks.

Immediate alerts to bad code allow developers to correct their mistakes before the errors go on to complicate other aspects of their release. Each line is checked with a set of internal rules and, if anything falls out of line, the code is flagged.

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4. Dashboards and Reports

You’re never going to be able to fix a problem you don’t know exists. The ability to thoroughly analyze your Salesforce environment ensures you have a clear understanding of who is using your platform, how your data is being used, and potential vulnerabilities.

Various DevSecOps security tools like Salesforce automated release management provide dashboards and reports on essential factors, such as code health, identifiers for code changes, and access logs.

Information is power in Salesforce DevSecOps. The insights gained from these reports will not only provide a realistic snapshot of your current state, but will also support well-informed decisions moving forward.

Tracking your successes and failures over time allows teams to better prepare for future projects. The insights gained from dashboards and reports are invaluable for saving time in the future. DevSecOps processes should be constantly refined with an eye toward streamlining every project. Lean processes increase ROI and reduce wasted time.

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5. Data Backup

DevSecOps security tools aren’t all directed at preventing data loss events or breaches. We must also prepare for worst-case scenarios to occur. There are simply too many potential sources of data loss to be overconfident in your ability to guard against all of them.

A Salesforce data backup tool takes recurring snapshots that ensure a recent backup repository exists to get you back online after a data loss event.

These backups can be specialized to meet your unique needs. Factors like available storage space impact how large and frequent your backups will be. Larger backups take up more space and are more expensive to maintain. This needs to be balanced with data security needs.

A strong data backup assists with data security regulations and can help a company return to operations much faster than without a current backup. Plus, its benefits are two-fold, saving you time and money.

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6. Data Recovery

As important as a data backup tool is, it’s only half the equation when restoring operations after a data loss event or breach. You also need to move that backed-up data from storage into your live environment. This is where data recovery comes in.

Quickly restoring your system to operations saves your company money from lost time along with reducing the redundant work needed to keep your system current.

Data recovery should be customizable to meet your needs with various settings, such as recovery time objective and recovery point objective. Is it more important for you to get back online quickly or to make sure every piece of data is recovered? These questions will dictate how your Salesforce data recovery tool is configured.

A reliable recovery tool is a non-negotiable aspect of a complete data backup strategy. Accidents happen. Preparation is critical.

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7. Policy Scanner

When was the last time you checked the permissions settings for all your employees? What systems do you have in place to verify you are adhering to all government data security regulations?

Manually verifying all these factors is incredibly time consuming. A Salesforce policy scanner automates these checks to ensure 100% adherence to internal rules and requirements.

Proper permission sets and verification of adherence to internal rules greatly reduce the chances of experiencing a data loss event as a result of a costly mistake. Automating these processes supports total coverage.

It’s impossible to be everywhere and monitor everyone all at once. But leaving it up to each individual on your team to both know the internal rules and consistently follow them is a recipe for disaster. The most consequential data loss events often come at the hands of an unknowing team member. Automation simplifies and strengthens this process.

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8. Flexible Hosting

The last DevSecOps security tool may not seem like a security component at all, but it’s an important consideration that has a drastic effect on the success of your data security strategy. How you host your platform significantly impacts your control over data security.

Self-hosting your Salesforce environment provides the ultimate level of data security compared to cloud hosting.

Protecting your development pipeline is a major concern, especially if you work in a regulated industry. DevSecOps security tools go a long way to maintain high levels of data security, but they must be used correctly by every team member every time to ensure proper coverage.

Find what works for your needs: cloud hosting, cloud hosting with a private instance, or self-hosting. Each has its benefits, but for those who need the highest level of data security, hosting on-premises provides the greatest security.

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Next Step…

DevSecOps tools secure your Salesforce environment from a variety of angles. Scanning and monitoring are essential to maintain this level of support. Are you ready to dig deeper into how static code analysis plays into this?

Read Is Static Code Analysis a Salesforce Security and Monitoring Tool? to learn more.

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FAQs

What’s the difference between DevOps and DevSecOps?

DevSecOps injects a focus on data security into every stage of the development pipeline, from planning all the way through production, which reduces the chances of security breaches and data loss.

What’s the difference between continuous delivery and continuous deployment?

The processes of continuous delivery and continuous deployment are the same up until deployment to production—continuous delivery requires manual approval to release the project while continuous deployment skips the approval step and automatically deploys the update.

Why maintain such strict focus on data security?

Cybercrime is expected to cost companies $6 trillion in 2022 which will continue to rise in the future. An insistence on strong data security measures is the best way to avoid costly breaches.

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8 Essential DevSecOps Security Tools

Here Are 8 Essential Salesforce Security Tools:

1. Continuous Integration

2. Continuous Delivery/Deployment

3. Static Code Analysis

4. Dashboards and Reports

5. Data Backup

6. Data Recovery

7. Policy Scanner

8. Flexible Hosting

Next Step…

FAQs

Develop high quality, secure code!

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