SecOps was born partly as a result of the significant advantages and successes provided by DevOps. The DevOps methodology addresses the inherent misalignment between teams and departments. Specifically, DevOps brings together Development (Dev) and IT Operations (Ops) to better coordinate priorities and optimize communication, while integrating automation to ensure fast and eligible software delivery.

DevOps changed the way that organizations build software, resulting in major advances across a range of industries. As such, combining security and operations seemed like an obvious next step. SecOps aligns IT security and IT operations teams to ensure that all processes, including DevOps processes, can operate safely and securely.

Higher-level goals of SecOps are:

• Creating collaboration across teams to account for security in the application and software development lifecycle.
• Increase visibility of the security infrastructure for stronger security practices.
• Ensure that management has bought in at all levels to create a roadmap to increase and improve the organization’s security.

Basic components of SecOps

• Earlier detection and prioritization: SecOps tends to focus on checking smaller, more productive segments rather than large batches or entire programs at once.
• Increased transparency: The increased ties and collaboration between development, security, and operations can create transparency.
• Gen AI and AI Agents to speed investigations by automating incident summarization, closure notes, and data correlation.
• Security improvements: SecOps improves security alongside the programming and operational aspects of DevOps.
• Threat awareness: SecOps teams are typically trained in security operations to ensure that everyone understands the security threats.

• Security threats grow and become more and more creative every day. It almost seems like there won’t ever be enough people in an IT security program to dodge every attack and prevent every security incident from occurring. A more robust team can help with the deployment of applications and help oversee the security during all phases of deployment to grow a team and put more hands on deck.
• With the advent of commercially and publicly available AI, threat actors have begun adopting and leveraging it within their attacks, increasing both their sophistication and effectiveness. The only true way for security teams to combat this is through the adoption of AI as well. SecOps powered by GenAI provides access to AI Agents to assist security teams throughout the response process.
• Speed and tool adoption are prioritized over security. Often, operations and development teams are concerned with the speed of applications and their usefulness as a tool. When there isn’t enough emphasis on security, an application can be vulnerable to attacks and become compromised.
• Innovation has outpaced security, and it is crucial to keep security side by side with innovation. Otherwise, an innovation can just be a liability and a vulnerability.
• Time to exploit vulnerability has decreased as cybercriminals are becoming increasingly creative with their attack methodologies. Faster security responses are crucial to protecting data and the integrity of a company’s information.

• Continuous network monitoring: Careful monitoring of a network includes everything in the IT environment, including public, private, and cloud infrastructures.
• Incident response: Any sign of unexpected activity on a network can be indicative of a security event. It is the role of the SecOps team to implement incident response protocols and take the appropriate steps to contain any damage or take preventative measures.
• Forensics and root cause analysis: Post-incident analysis is a crucial responsibility of the SecOps teams. This is the opportunity to assess and analyze security incidents and other unexpected events to find the root cause, whether there was a breach and loss of data or if there was just a software performance issue.
• Threat intelligence: The process of gaining knowledge about possible security threats, and planning methods to prevent or respond to events.

The setup of a SecOps team is critical to effectively preventing and responding to cybersecurity threats. A well-structured team with clearly defined roles ensures a strategic approach to safeguarding digital assets. Some of the main roles include:

• Incident responder: These team members quickly address and resolve security threats to minimize the impact on operations.
• Security investigator: They conduct thorough investigations into security incidents to determine the cause and extent of a breach or threat.
• Advanced security analyst: The analysts utilize their deep technical knowledge to analyze and interpret complex security data. This helps them identify patterns and potential vulnerabilities.
• Security engineer/architect: These team members design and implement security structures to protect systems against potential cyber-attacks.
• SOC manager: The SOC manager oversees the Security Operations Center, coordinating the team’s efforts and managing resources.

SecOps is continually evolving, which often leads to more complexities. Now, more than ever, with the adoption of AI by threat actors, organizations are facing a more sophisticated threat landscape from across the globe, and security threats and vulnerabilities are becoming more prevalent. But many organizations still haven’t implemented a sophisticated SecOps team. In fact, 28% indicated that SecOps teams are only brought on at the beginning of crucial IT projects, and 15% say that they are brought on for every new project. The remaining 54% indicated that they are merely consulted on a few projects, if even at all.

72% of companies indicated that security operations have become increasingly more difficult, even when compared to two years ago. However, companies that have implemented SecOps have found it beneficial and great for ROI. Operations are improved and processes are more efficient across the security landscape and the rest of the IT infrastructure.

Although SecOps and SOC are closely related concepts under the umbrella of cybersecurity, they serve distinct purposes within an organization. SecOps is the broader strategy and collaborative approach of integrating security and IT operations to enhance overall security posture. It is crucial for efficiently identifying and mitigating cybersecurity risks. SecOps also helps ensure that security measures are a part of every aspect of IT operations, from the very beginning of project development.

On the other hand, a Security Operations Center (SOC) is a specific, centralized unit within the organization that acts as a command center for executing SecOps strategies. It is a hub where the dedicated security team monitors and responds to threats in real time. The SOC is equipped with sophisticated technologies and staffed by specialized personnel. This includes SOC analysts, security engineers, and system administrators, all of whom play a critical role in defending the organization’s information assets.

While the SecOps team may include members with strategic, oversight, and integration roles, the SCO focuses more on day-to-day tasks. It’s where the ongoing monitoring and immediate response to incidents occur. Depending on the size and needs of the organization, an SOC can vary in size from a small group to a large team with multiple specialists.

SecOps provides the framework and policies for cybersecurity efforts while the SOC serves as the operational force that implements these strategies. Both are essential to an effective cybersecurity defense, but they function at different levels of the security management spectrum.

Return on investment: There is a greater ROI when SecOps is implemented as opposed to a traditional security environment.

Security and operations become streamlined: Priorities are better managed and consolidated, communication and information are integrated, and tools and technology are joined together.

Reduced resources: Key security procedures are automated, and effective responses are orchestrated for an all-around streamlined security plan.

Fewer cloud security issues: Fewer security breaches, fewer vulnerabilities, and fewer security distractions for a safer security environment.

Fewer app disruptions: Fewer configuration errors are made, and changes in application code are tied together with rules of deployment.

SecOps teams face significant challenges that can complicate their efforts to protect organizational assets from cyber threats. For example:

Lack of visibility

One of the primary difficulties is the lack of visibility and context across the network, which hinders the ability to detect subtle or sophisticated attacks. Without comprehensive insights into network activities, SecOps cannot effectively identify or respond to threats.

Complex investigations

Another challenge is the increased complexity of investigations. As networks grow and become more integrated with various technologies, the intricacy of potential security incidents also increases, making investigations more time-consuming and complex. This complexity can delay responses and potentially lead to oversight of critical vulnerabilities or ongoing attacks.

Alert fatigue

Alert fatigue is a common issue for SecOps teams, primarily caused by the high volume of low-fidelity alerts generated by security controls. These alerts, often numerous and mostly benign, can overwhelm analysts, causing important warnings to be overlooked or dismissed as false positives. This can increase the risk of missing genuine threats.

Lack of interoperability

The incompatibility between systems further compounds these challenges. When security tools and platforms do not integrate well, it slows down efficient data sharing and response coordination. This leads to silos that can prevent a unified approach to security management. 

Lack of automation

Many organizations also face a lack of automation and orchestration in their SecOps processes. This deficiency leads to slower response times, manual handling of repetitive tasks, and ultimately, a higher chance of human error. Automation and orchestration are crucial for scaling security operations and ensuring rapid and consistent response to threats. 

Difficulty contextualizing data

Of course, the inability to effectively collect, process, and contextualize threat intelligence data limits the ability of SecOps teams to anticipate and mitigate emerging threats. Without effective mechanisms to integrate and understand global and industry-specific threat intelligence, organizations remain a step behind attackers, reactive rather than proactive in their security strategies.

Provide SecOps training

Some organizations may develop and administer their own training courses, some may seek out third-party courses created by a SecOps vendor, and others may create a hybrid training of the two. Regardless of the methodology, a company needs a well-trained and knowledgeable SecOps team to understand their roles, how security and operations merge, and how to function together as a whole. 

Avoid potential pitfalls

A benefit of a SecOps organization is that there is better collaboration between teams and communication about operations and security. Rather than disagreeing on code and applications during development and after deployment, a SecOps team would work simultaneously to create something more holistic.

Provide proper SecOps tools

There are several development tools available, but there need to be security tools available in conjunction with development tools to keep the system well-secured and running smoothly. There are many automated platform options that can manage procedures and run well with internal SecOps processes. 

The benefits of SecOps are widely recognized. However, many businesses have trouble fully embracing this methodology to improve practices and processes. As we move further into the future of SecOps, organizations will begin to recognize that in order to enjoy the full advantages of SecOps, IT and security teams will have to become more aligned—not only on goals, but also in terms of improved communication. As security and IT departments become more accustomed to seeing each other as allies rather than obstacles, they will begin to see improved results from SecOps implementation.

Technology-enabled cultural shift

As with DevOps, the ideology of SecOps will be the catalyst that drives the creation of new and better SecOps tools. As they become more widely implemented, these new tools will make SecOps even more accessible, winning over hold outs and becoming ingrained in practices across essentially every industry. When this happens, we will see SecOps truly begin to take shape, causing a cultural shift towards unified security and IT practices.

SecOps tool requirements

As SecOps becomes standard, organizations will need to be able to automatically implement security features to every new IT resource. Security-policies-as-code solutions, tailored to SecOps processes, will help provide reliable protection against digital threats, while also remaining flexible so as not to hamper innovation. Additionally, SecOps will move towards a more standardized format for security-incident tracking, allowing for identification, prioritization, and remediation all on a single platform.

Automation

Automation is becoming absolutely essential and is expected to become even more integral to the SecOps process in the years ahead. Initially evolving from SOAR solutions, SecOps automation will play a crucial role in the methodology. This automation will leverage finely tuned, role-based access controls to detect and neutralize threats effectively, all while ensuring that security measures do not adversely affect critical business operations. This balance allows operations to evaluate and implement security fixes without disrupting essential business functions.

SecOps is poised to change the way that IT security and IT operations coordinate, to produce air-tight security solutions delivered faster than ever.  Learn more about SecOps and how it can improve your business.

ServiceNow Security Operations transforms the traditional landscape of cybersecurity management by integrating advanced orchestration, automation, and response capabilities across security and IT teams. Through its SOAR engine on the Now Platform, ServiceNow not only accelerates incident response but also ensures efficient vulnerability management.

By leveraging the CMDB to link security incidents directly to business services and IT infrastructure, ServiceNow prioritizes issues based on their impact, directing teams to focus on critical areas. With ServiceNow, businesses can not only meet their current security demands but also scale their SecOps to address future challenges, ultimately safeguarding their assets against evolving cyber threats.