When cybersecurity breaches occur, they are often the result of human error. Recent reports show that nearly 75% of breaches are due to a weak or reused password, failure to install a security update, a general lack of security awareness, or some other mistake made by the person behind the mouse. Consequently, the most effective cybersecurity initiatives eliminate the human factor from the equation.
LowOps is an approach that recognizes and addresses security issues stemming from human involvement. It allows developers to achieve a revolutionary change in cybersecurity by significantly reducing the need for human intervention in the development and deployment of digital solutions.
What LowOps is About
Yashin Manraj
LowOps, or Low Operations, focuses on systematically reducing human interaction in infrastructure operations. This goal is achieved by leveraging container deployment methodology involving minimal binary images and the least capabilities of Linux. Beyond architecture, LowOps defines all aspects of enterprise IT infrastructure.
LowOps elevates the thinking behind DevOps, which was designed to facilitate efficient code transfer between developers, operations, and testers. It refines DevOps frameworks with core components that streamline development.
Automation is a critical element of the LowOps approach, automating routine tasks supporting development and deployment, such as patch application and scaling limits adjustment. This reduces the practical work that human agents need to perform.
Decoupled architecture is another component of the LowOps landscape. Event-based microservices allow independent updates, scaling, and security enhancements, reducing the likelihood of introducing new vulnerabilities as services are updated or improved.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is another prominent tool in the LowOps development approach, involving the creation of scripts and codes that define and manage the infrastructure environment. It is fundamental to the cybersecurity improvements empowered by LowOps because it allows automated changes in the infrastructure.
Driving a Cybersecurity Revolution
When cybersecurity breaches occur, the human component is often the sole point of failure. In most cases, the failures are not significant events. They typically consist of minor errors in deploying environments, securing standard protocols, removing sensitive information from pushed code, testing terminals, or addressing security issues associated with certain development components.
In many environments, human agent weaknesses are addressed by adopting zero-trust principles. This approach reinforces security by defaulting to the understanding that no one should be trusted and requires verification for anyone attempting to access the network, whether internal or external agents.
LowOps takes zero-trust to the next level by allowing only automated tools, such as Terraform agents or Argo Workflow template deployment, to perform most infrastructure changes. Human agents only have access in "break glass" situations.
LowOps reduces security risks by enabling an architecture capable of automating the verification and management of developers' common concerns. The "robot agents" used by LowOps processes, unlike their human counterparts, bring capabilities that eliminate vulnerabilities.
Guided by automated IaC-driven processes, robot agents increase the system's complexity considerably, leveraging different runtime service accounts within isolated network environments. The combination of runtime behavior change with systematic use of fortified containers diminishes the effectiveness of popular cyber attack strategies, including lateral movement techniques and spear phishing.
Additional Advantages of the LowOps Approach
The inherent automation in LowOps development goes beyond empowering cybersecurity improvements to offer a range of additional benefits. The primary one is cost savings. By simplifying complex processes, LowOps reduces dependence on highly skilled and expensive team members. Developers adopting the LowOps approach can restructure their teams for optimal productivity and affordability.
The establishment of highly automated IT environments can also drive profound changes in productivity and innovation. As routine tasks shift to automated processes, the developer workload is reduced. The gained time can be used for development and IT operations initiatives that drive business expansion.
Moreover, the reduction of human errors has ramifications beyond the cybersecurity improvements it brings. Automation enables greater precision and consistency in a wide range of operational processes. The potential for errors is omnipresent with human agents, but automation drastically reduces that potential.
Making the Shift to a More Secure Environment
To attain the security improvements offered by LowOps, companies must adopt a new paradigm. The current cybersecurity landscape has led many companies to believe that optimal performance depends on extensive training, custom dashboards, and a flood of real-time reports showing security metrics on the number of attacks suffered and repelled.
The increasing volume of security breaches demonstrates that this approach is not effective. In fact, it only increases reliance on the factor that has proven to be most vulnerable: the human agent.
LowOps takes a very different – and much more effective – security approach by leveraging innovative development principles to proactively design a series of safeguards woven into the fabric of the platform. Security controls and balances are not an add-on to the LowOps approach but are integral to the core development process.
About the Author: Yashin Manraj is the CEO of Pvotal Technologies. He has worked as a computational chemist in academia, as an engineer tackling novel challenges at the nano-scale, and as a thought leader in creating more secure systems in large global engineering firms. His deep technical knowledge of product development, design, business perspectives, and coding provides a unique nexus for identifying and addressing gaps in the product chain. Pvotal's mission is to build sophisticated, boundary-less enterprises poised for rapid change, seamless communication, top-notch security, and infinite scalability.
