Just the facts" 🔏 🗒️ Introducing Software Delivery Evidence Management (SDEM)

The DevOps Detective: “Just the facts”

Picture a gruff-voiced sergeant from the classic TV series “Dragnet,” but instead of solving crimes, they are navigating the complex world of software delivery. Their catchphrase, “Just the facts” isn’t just a catch phrase – it’s the mantra we need in today’s high-stakes world of DevOps, AppSec and Compliance.

From Punch Cards to Pixels: The Evolution of Software Governance

Remember punch cards? If you don’t, count yourself lucky. These relics of computing’s early days were the original “hard copy” – literally.

Fast forward to today, and we’re pushing code at the speed of thought. But while our development practices have gone supersonic, our compliance methods are often still stuck in the era of manila folders and filing cabinets.

Stuck in the past: searching for software evidence

The result? It’s like asking a modern CSI unit to solve crimes using only a magnifying glass and a notepad.

We’re left with a glaring mismatch between cutting-edge DevOps practices and outdated compliance methods that’s compromising our ability to deliver secure, compliant software at speed.

SDEM: The Evidence Collector for DevOps Compliance

So, what exactly is SDEM? Think of it as the brain child of a meticulous court stenographer and a cutting-edge forensic scientist, but for your entire software delivery process.

Here’s what makes up SDEM

1 - Always On Duty: Like a 24/7 surveillance system, it’s collecting evidence of every step in your software delivery process, from code commit to production deployment.

Snapshots of your environments, pipelines and workflows

Tickets, Pull Requests, Snapshots, Fingerprints, Test Evidence, Code Scans, SBOMs, Secrets Check, Authorized Access

2 - Real-time Rule Enforcement: It’s not just watching; it’s actively keeping your code, containers, applications, on-prem and multi-cloud environments on the straight and narrow, ensuring compliance at every stage.

Real-time Rule Enforcement - arti character in a detective suit

Facts inform Policy-As-Code Decisions

3 - Tamper-proof Trail: Every piece of evidence is time-stamped and sealed tighter than Fort Knox. Try arguing with that, auditors!

Secure non-tamperable evidence

SHA256

4 - The Great Connector of Facts: It integrates seamlessly with your existing tools, creating an interconnected web of evidence across your entire DevOps ecosystem.

Search, discover and connect all the facts

Traceability across systems for Devs, SRE’s and Auditors

The SDEM Advantage: Connecting the Dots

Implementing SDEM isn’t just about ticking boxes or impressing auditors (though it does that too). It’s about fundamentally transforming your approach to software delivery governance. Here’s what you get:

Audit-Ready, Always: No more panic-induced all-monthers before an audit. You’re always ready to show your work, with a complete history of changes at your fingertips.
Enhanced Security Visibility: SDEM isn’t a magic bullet, but it gives you a clear line of sight across your tools and processes, helping you detect and respond to threats faster. It’s like having a flight data recorder for your runtime environments.
Happy Developers, Happy Life: Less friction in development with team wide visibility leaves more time for innovation (and maybe a few extra coffee breaks).
Faster Incident Resolution: When things go sideways (and they will), you’ll have a crystal-clear trail of evidence leading straight to the root cause. No more digging through platform logs and cloud consoles in high-pressure situations.

Systems and Flow Engineering = Better Governance

Unlike a single dashboard that claims to do it all, SDEM is the thread that weaves through your existing tools and processes. It’s not about replacing your current systems, but about connecting the dots between them. SDEM is a recorder of facts, not a proscribed methodology or closed ecosytem.

Imagine your software delivery process as a lake, with various streams of changes flowing into it. Traditional change management puts a gate on these streams, but it doesn’t monitor the lake itself. SDEM gives you eyes on both the streams and the lake, ensuring you can detect any unauthorized changes that might slip in through the cracks.

Data lake, do you know whats in it and how it got there?

Unauthorized Changes: The Hidden Threat

One of the most significant risks in modern software delivery is unauthorized changes to production. These can range from benign (a developer deploying a test container) to malicious (a breach leading to crypto miners in your infrastructure). SDEM helps you detect these changes in real-time, providing:

Runtime Forensics: Continuous monitoring and recording of what’s actually running in your environments.
Change Compliance Records: Attestations and evidence that every change has met your compliance and security requirements.
Controls and Alerts: Notifications when non-approved or undocumented changes are found.

The Future is Evidence-Based

As we hurtle towards an AI-assisted future, the role of SDEM becomes even more crucial. Imagine an AI assistant that can navigate this interconnected web of evidence, not only predicting compliance issues but helping prevent them.

This is the next logical step in compliance evolution.

Conclusion: Facts, Not Fiction

In a world where “move fast and break things” has become “move fast and don’t break regulations,” SDEM isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s a must-have. It’s the bridge between the speed of innovation and the rigor of governance.

So, are you ready to turn your DevOps process into a well-oiled, evidence-collecting machine? Remember, in the world of software delivery, the facts don’t lie – and with SDEM, you’ll always have the facts on your side.

Time to close the case on compliance headaches. As Sergeant Arti-Fact would say, “All we want are the facts” – and SDEM is here to deliver them.