The DevSecOps Playbook

CHAPTER 2The Evolution of Cybersecurity (from Perimeter to Zero Trust)

THE EVOLUTION OF THE THREAT LANDSCAPE

To best understand DevSecOps, it should be understood in the broader context of the evolution of technology and cybersecurity. DevSecOps has emerged, in part, because technologies such as CI/CD enable companies to work in new ways.

Evolution of Infrastructure

Since the 1980s, massive shifts in the technology landscape have given rise to new threats and new security responses. One of the most fundamental to the cybersecurity approach is the expansion and erosion of the network perimeter. DevSecOps offers key strategies for addressing these new challenges.

Traditional cybersecurity approaches focused on securing the perimeter. This made sense in legacy network environments where all of the critical systems and data for a company were contained within the company walls. When all the company's data, systems, and employees were located in one location, securing that location was enough. By providing network security at the perimeter, engineers could provide a walled garden, thus protecting the crown jewels within. However, as technology has moved from a centrally hosted, on‐premises model to a cloud‐based model, the validity of this approach has rapidly deteriorated. The “Verizon 2022 Data Breach Investigation Report” notes that “the main ways in which your business is exposed to the Internet are the main ways that your business is exposed to the bad guys.”¹ As this perimeter ...