DevSecOps, short for Development, Security, and Operations, is an approach that integrates security practices into the software development process. It focuses on creating a culture of collaboration between development, security, and operations teams to ensure that security considerations are integrated throughout the entire software development lifecycle.

The DevSecOps lifecycle involves several key stages:

1. Planning and Design: In this phase, teams define the project’s goals, requirements, and architecture. Security considerations are identified, and threat modeling may be performed to identify potential vulnerabilities.

2. Development: During this phase, developers write code and create features based on the project’s requirements. Security practices like code reviews, static code analysis, and coding standards are applied to identify and fix security issues early in the development process.

3. Continuous Integration (CI): CI involves automatically integrating code changes into a shared repository multiple times a day. Automated tests, including security tests, are executed to catch bugs, vulnerabilities, and regressions quickly.

4. Continuous Security (CS): In this phase, security scans and tests are continuously performed on the codebase, including dynamic application security testing (DAST), static application security testing (SAST), and software composition analysis (SCA) to identify vulnerabilities and risks.

5. Continuous Deployment (CD): CD focuses on automating the deployment process. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices are often used to ensure consistent and secure deployment environments.

6. Monitoring and Incident Response: After deployment, the application’s performance and security are monitored. Any anomalies or security breaches are quickly detected and addressed. Incident response plans are in place to mitigate and respond to security incidents.