The advent of DevOps has made the concept of “shift-left” familiar to the software development and testing industry. However, the effectiveness of the shift left concept is not just limited to QA. Security teams can also benefit greatly from shifting security operations to the left.

Contents 1. What is shift left? 2. The Benefit of Shifting Left 3. Why Shift-Left in Security? 4. How to Effectively Shift Security to the Left? 5. Conclusion

What is shift left?

Before penetrating into the details of shift-left security, let’s discover the shift-left concept and identify its importance.

Shift-left is a simple term for a complex task. Simply put, shifting left is positioning a process that is performed later in the development cycle to a point early in the delivery lifecycle. The main objective of the shift left concept is to start building more effective and easier-to-manage processes while also saving more time too.

The Benefit of Shifting Left

The traditional waterfall methodology taught us not to start the next step of the development cycle until the previous steps were accomplished; the real testing of the software was initiated after the development was completed. However, with the new shift left approach, testing is initiated with the development process itself. The traditional waterfall methodology could cause problems for an organization as the discovery of any major bugs at a later stage can activate the need for major code refactoring.

By addressing issues at the point of origin, shifting left clearly has a better ROI. In contrast to the traditional development method, there is a dedicated team for quality. The main objective of this mode of operation is to respond to issues, not necessarily preventing them.

Why Shift-Left in Security?

The benefits described are not just limited to the testing process but can also boost the security of an application. Shifting security left in the real world is like creating a fire escape strategy. In the software security world, it is a threat modeling plan before the coding begins, educating and training developers on securing the coding practices.

If the application is continuously assessed for security issues from the outset of development, it is extremely unlikely that a major security concern would arise toward the delivery pipeline. It is more likely that only trivial security distresses would exist as the application development process comes to closure. This is a direct outcome of placing discernibility into the application’s quality by constantly validating that security standards are being employed properly.

The objective is to move the application quality and security concerns closer to the developer, i.e. to the “left” of the delivery chain in order to avoid any potential issues and resolve them sooner, ideally before the code is finalized. Technology undoubtedly makes shift-left easier. However, it can only help in fighting half the battle.

How to Effectively Shift Security to the Left?

With the help of the shift-left security testing approach, software is developed with security as a design principle and software-defined platforms as enablers. This helps in implementing cutting-edge testing methods and eventually performing the end-to-end investigations. More importantly, it creates longer-lived and more secure software. Here are our 4 tips to effectively shift security to the left.

Conclusion

The benefits of shift-left security are remarkable. As application development grows, it is easier to see why so many DevOps teams are shifting processes such as security and testing to the left in the delivery pipeline. Shift-left security pays for itself by averting security issues or helping developers to identify them early on.

Shifting security to the left comes with time-saving benefits such as early detection of bugs and security issues while making the development lifecycle safer and faster. It helps DevOps organization in releasing high-quality, secure applications quickly to the market.

Get in touch with TestingXperts’ Test Advisors to know how we can boost the security of your applications and offer faster time-to-market.

The post Shift-Left Security: Assuring Security Early in the Delivery Pipeline first appeared on TestingXperts.

Contents 1. Why is Shifting Left in QA? 2. Shift Left Testing – Key to Detecting Defects Early

4. Conclusion

Why is shifting Left in QA?

In this world of cut-throat competition, organizations are constantly looking at reducing costs, increasing revenues and reaching customers faster. With IT being a transformative force for most organizations, IT has a key role to play in helping them meet these demands. The Cost of Quality (CoQ) in IT projects is high, and it is further deteriorated due to defects found late in the lifecycle. However, on analyzing project metrics, we would figure out that about 70% of these defects are induced during requirements and design phases.  These problems are prominent in large-scale projects, and the problem could be worse if we get to know the devious state of the project mid-way during integration testing.

Shift Left Testing – Key to Detecting Defects Early

For finding defects early and avoiding the unnecessary trouble, shift left is crucial. Shifting left in testing & QA refers to the integration of testing activities with requirements gathering, designing and development, sooner in the development cycle. Shift left takes care of the infirmities as they occur and also ensure that there are less defects later in the SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle). All this is done through static testing requirements and design, requirements validation, reassuring code quality, elevating system test among other things.

Why Shift Left? What are the Benefits?

By using the shift left methodology, organizations can focus on quality from day one of a project and identify the defects early in the lifecycle as soon as they come up. Some of the key benefits of shifting left are given below.

1. Increases quality and efficiency

The increased levels of automation while shifting left allows for: • Reducing human error • Increasing test coverage by running more tests in same time • Code quality checks • Allowing more time for testers to focus on more inspiring and fulfilling tasks • Performance monitoring over time • Reducing issues that arises during production • Built-in security checks

Apart from these benefits, being able to start testing sooner results in more quality, as testers are not dashed to find all the errors at the end.

2. Reduces cost of development and testing

It is an old saying by Larry Smith, “Bugs are cheap when caught young.” Now, the main aim of agile testing is to detect the errors as early as possible. When testing is carried out with every build, the errors that are found become easier to detect and locate and can be less expensive to fix. Assuring the quality as we go ahead also means eliminating the high costs and the redundant work of going back and re-doing the things again.

3. Gain a competitive edge

By shifting left, you can gain advantages such as speed up time to market. Shifting left addresses the issue of accelerating development without sacrificing quality.

Conclusion

Shift-left testing has become a key enabler for increasing efficiency and quality. In shift-left testing, every member holds an equal responsibility for producing high-quality software. The ultimate aim is to produce a quality product in less time. Now, who would not want that?

TestingXperts is the front runner in offering Agile testing solutions to a wide range of industries including healthcare, insurance, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and much more. We have process enablers that help in accelerating the whole process in a cost-effective manner. Contact us to get acquainted with our agile methodologies.

The post Why is shifting left the right thing to do in QA? first appeared on TestingXperts.

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