Note: Market data referenced in this article is sourced from an Infoholic Research report cited by statsflash.com (originally published January 2020). Figures reflect forecasts made during the 2017–2023 period and may not reflect current market conditions.
What Is DevSecOps?
DevSecOps integrates security practices directly into the DevOps software development lifecycle, rather than treating security as a final checkpoint before release. The approach bridges development, operations, and security teams through shared responsibility, collaboration, and automated tooling at every stage of product development.
A simple way to frame it:
DevSecOps = DevOps + Security
Traditional development workflows often introduced security reviews late in the cycle, creating bottlenecks and leaving vulnerabilities undiscovered until close to deployment. DevSecOps shifts security left — embedding automated security checks, code scanning, and policy enforcement into CI/CD pipelines from the earliest stages of development.
Why DevSecOps Adoption Is Accelerating
Several converging factors are driving enterprise interest in DevSecOps platforms:
- Rising security breaches: As software applications proliferate across business and consumer contexts, attackers have more surfaces to exploit — including insecure code, misconfigured infrastructure, and poorly managed secrets.
- Pressure to accelerate release cycles: DevOps practices have shortened release timelines significantly. Security processes must keep pace without becoming a bottleneck.
- Regulatory requirements: Government and industry regulations around data protection and software supply chain security are increasing compliance obligations for organizations of all sizes.
- Growth of cloud-native development: Cloud deployments introduce new attack vectors that traditional perimeter-based security models were not designed to handle.
- AI and automation integration: Automated static analysis, dynamic testing, and AI-assisted threat detection are making it practical to embed security checks into fast-moving pipelines.
Market Size and Growth Projections
According to a forecast from Infoholic Research covering the 2017–2023 period, the global DevSecOps market was projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 33.7%. The primary growth drivers identified in that analysis included increasing security incident frequency, growing awareness of DevSecOps tooling, the need to reduce wasted time within the SDLC, and rising investment activity in security tooling.
Demand for advanced technologies — including AI-powered security analysis, cloud-native deployment, and infrastructure automation — was also cited as a supporting factor for market expansion.
Regional Segmentation
The market report segmented adoption geographically as follows:
- Americas (leading region): The United States and Canada drive the majority of market revenue, fueled by high rates of security incidents, mature technology ecosystems, and stringent regulatory environments. Latin American markets were considered emerging.
- Europe (second largest): The UK, Germany, and France are significant revenue contributors, supported by strong data protection regulations (including GDPR) and active enterprise technology adoption.
- Asia Pacific (high-growth): India, China, Japan, Singapore, and the Philippines were highlighted as markets showing increasing interest in DevSecOps platforms. The region was characterized as an attractive target for vendors looking to expand their customer base.
- Middle East and Africa (emerging): MEA was identified as an emerging market during the forecast period, with potential for growth as digital transformation initiatives advance.
Deployment Model Analysis: Cloud vs. On-Premises
DevSecOps vendors typically offer both cloud-hosted and on-premises deployment options. The report noted that many enterprises — particularly in regulated industries — still prefer on-premises deployments for control over sensitive data and compliance reasons. However, the broader trend is migration toward cloud-based toolchains.
Cloud deployment models were projected to capture the largest market share over the forecast period, driven by lower upfront infrastructure costs, easier integration with existing cloud-native pipelines, and faster time-to-value. A key requirement for cloud providers in this context is ensuring security across every phase of the SDLC — including build, test, and deployment stages — with strong role-based access controls and audit logging.
Enterprise Type: Large Enterprises vs. SMEs
The report analyzed market activity by enterprise size:
- Large enterprises: Leading market share during the forecast period. Large organizations are adopting digital transformation initiatives at scale and face significant consequences from security breaches, including reputational damage and regulatory penalties. This drives demand for comprehensive DevSecOps platforms.
- Small and medium enterprises (SMEs): Historically underserved, SMEs are frequent targets for attackers precisely because they often lack mature IT security infrastructure. The report projected that SME revenue contribution would increase over time as tooling becomes more accessible and affordable.
For SMEs in particular, managed DevSecOps services and SaaS-based tools lower the barrier to entry by reducing the need for in-house security expertise.
Key Vendors in the DevSecOps Market
The market report highlighted a mix of established enterprise technology companies and specialized security vendors competing in the DevSecOps space. Companies mentioned in the report include:
- IBM – Offers integrated security and DevOps tooling through its broader hybrid cloud platform.
- Splunk – Known for log management and security information and event management (SIEM) capabilities that integrate into DevSecOps workflows.
- Chef Software – Provides infrastructure automation and compliance tooling (InSpec) used in DevSecOps pipelines.
- Puppet – Offers configuration management and policy-as-code tooling relevant to security automation.
- Amazon (AWS) – Provides cloud-native security services including AWS Security Hub, GuardDuty, and CodeGuru that integrate into CI/CD pipelines.
- CA Technologies (now Broadcom) – Enterprise DevOps and security portfolio covering application security testing and release automation.
- Qualys – Cloud-based vulnerability management and security assessment tools widely used in DevSecOps programs.
Beyond these established players, a growing ecosystem of specialized startups focuses on specific DevSecOps capabilities such as software composition analysis (SCA), container security, secrets management, and policy-as-code enforcement. Large vendors have pursued partnerships and acquisitions to fill capability gaps and expand market reach.
Core Benefits of Adopting DevSecOps
Organizations implementing DevSecOps practices typically aim to achieve the following outcomes:
- Earlier vulnerability detection: Catching security issues during development is significantly less expensive than remediating them post-deployment.
- Faster, safer releases: Automated security gates in CI/CD pipelines allow teams to release frequently without manual security review bottlenecks.
- Shared security ownership: Security becomes a team-wide responsibility rather than a siloed function, improving culture and coverage.
- Compliance automation: Policy-as-code tools allow compliance requirements to be enforced automatically, reducing audit burden.
- Reduced incident response time: Integrated monitoring and alerting help teams detect and respond to production security events faster.
Summary
DevSecOps represents a fundamental shift in how organizations think about software security — from a late-stage gate to an integrated, automated part of the development process. Market data from the 2017–2023 forecast period pointed to strong growth driven by increasing breach activity, cloud adoption, and regulatory pressure. While the specific forecast figures in this article are now historical, the underlying trends that drove them — complexity, speed, and threat volume — have only intensified, making DevSecOps a continuing priority for engineering and security teams.