Bridging the Gap: 3 Practical Strategies to Align Security and Operations in DevOps

The gap between security operations and IT operations poses significant risk. It’s increasingly clear that DevOps leaders, IT managers, and enterprise teams face an uphill battle to manage growing threat complexity, endless patches, and compliance requirements while operating in silos. Bridging this gap is essential to effectively manage risks and enhance operational efficiency. 

In this blog, you will find three practical strategies to align your Security and Operations teams so you can improve security operations, vulnerability remediation, and risk management across your infrastructure estate. 

Why Security and Operations Don’t Always Click 

Security and Operations often operate with different priorities, tools, and timelines. Security teams are focused on reducing risk and ensuring compliance, while Operations teams prioritize performance, uptime, and service delivery. Although these goals aren’t mutually exclusive, they tend to be managed separately, leading to friction and misalignment. 

This disconnect becomes especially problematic when vulnerabilities surface. Without integrated workflows and shared accountability, it quickly turns into a case of “too many cooks in the kitchen” with critical fixes stalled in queues, delayed approvals, and communication breakdowns. As a result, many organizations remain exposed to threats far longer than they should. 

And the impact of threats is real. In 2024, the average cost of a data breach reached $4.88 million USD, the highest ever recorded. That figure doesn’t include the estimated revenue loss from customer turnover — $2.67 million USD for just a 2% drop in retention, and $3.94 million USD for a 5% drop — an all-too-common consequence of breaches. It’s clear that outdated, manual approaches to security operations are not just inefficient, they’re expensive. 

While essential, traditional Security Operations Centers (SOCs) are also overwhelmed. By relying on manual handoffs and overloaded alert queues, they struggle to keep pace with today’s attack landscape.  

The solution? Integrate security earlier in the DevOps lifecycle, build shared ownership, and streamline workflows with a unified platform. 

1. Fix Earlier: Shift Security Left in DevOps 

To improve security operations, start by integrating security into every phase of the DevOps lifecycle — not just at the end. Too often, security is treated as a last-minute hurdle. Shifting left weaves security practices into development from the start, minimizing their impact, and making them routine rather than reactive. How? 

Automation plays a key role. Security checks can and should be embedded into build and release pipelines, catching issues before they escalate. When vulnerabilities are discovered early, they’re easier and less costly to fix. Organizations that embrace a shift-left security approach can cut the average time to fix vulnerabilities by 72 days. Adopting a “security by default” mindset across teams reinforces this approach, promoting consistent standards without slowing delivery. 

Security scanning tools that integrate with platform automation tools to provide real-time data help teams act immediately.  Shifting from reactive to proactive, teams can address issues the moment they surface instead of waiting for periodic audits. The outcome is a culture where prevention stands shoulder to shoulder with detection. 

2. Work Together: Shared Goals and Integrated Policies 

Fixing faster starts with shared goals. Collaboration becomes more natural when both Security and Operations teams measure success with the same metrics — like Mean Time to Remediate (MTTR). Aligning clear service level agreements (SLAs) creates accountability and keeps priorities in sync. 

One of the most effective enablers of this alignment is translating security policies into code. Instead of relying on manual reviews or approval chains, teams can implement guardrails directly into their workflows. That means security isn’t an afterthought — it’s integrated from the beginning. 

By encoding security and compliance policies, Operations teams can benefit from automated checks and enforcement that immediately catch drift, misconfigurations, or policy violations. At the same time, Security teams gain confidence that standards are being followed consistently. Any adjustments to the rules or policies are fully traceable, which simplifies audits and ensures accountability without slowing down development. 

By enabling this shift, both teams gain the freedom to move faster without compromising on security or compliance. 

3. Break Down Silos: A Single Platform for Action 

When Security and Operations work in silos, delays are inevitable. Vulnerabilities are discovered in one place and remediated in another, with critical details getting lost along the way. And with 70% of organizations spending more than six hours per week on patching alone, that disconnect adds up fast. 

To resolve this, teams need a single platform where they can view critical information in real-time, act, and measure results together. Instead of tossing tickets over the fence, they collaborate via the same solution, with the same data and the same priorities.  

 With clearer insight into the remediation process, security teams know what’s being fixed and when — without having to chase status updates. Operations teams benefit from clearer, more actionable vulnerability data that’s tied to systems they already understand. 

The result? A reduced cognitive load for both teams and a significant increase in efficiency. And when it comes time to demonstrate compliance, reporting is no longer a scramble — teams can deliver clear, comprehensive documentation with confidence. 

Want to learn more about how smart security management can improve security operations? 

Read our white paper: How to Improve Infrastructure Resilience & Drive Value with Vulnerability Management 

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Why Aligning Security and Operations Matters for Your Business 

Bringing Security and Operations together is key to business success. Aligned teams can remediate vulnerabilities faster, reduce attack surfaces, and comply with regulatory requirements more effectively. This translates to fewer incidents, less downtime, and more customer trust. 

The financial stakes are high. In 2024, one of the largest publicly reported ransomware payouts reached $75 million USD. That kind of loss isn’t just about money — it’s about reputation and long-term customer loyalty. Customer trust takes years to build but only moments to lose. A Boston Consulting Group study showed that only 2% of companies recovered trust within a single quarter, and only 12 of 177 companies achieved full recovery after three years. 

However, when Security and Operations align, the payoff is clear: stronger infrastructure, better compliance, and a higher return on your DevOps investments. 

Bridge the Gap with AI-Powered Automation: Puppet Enterprise Advanced 

Perforce Puppet simplifies and accelerates vulnerability remediation. It connects Security and Operations teams through a single platform, reducing friction, automating fixes, and enforcing security compliance at scale. 

With Puppet Enterprise Advanced, you can: 

• Build secure configurations into development from the start.
• Define security policies as code and enforce them automatically.
• Remediate vulnerabilities quicker with real-time data and integrated workflows.
• Generate compliance reports and ensure continuous audit-readiness.
• Reduce response times between risk detection and resolution. 

If your teams are tired of manual processes, redundant approvals, and never-ending patch queues — here’s a better way to work. 

Learn More About Puppet Enterprise Advanced   Demo Puppet Vulnerability Remediation