5 Reasons Why Security and User Experience Go Hand in Hand

With the mad rush for digital transformation and the need to keep customers content with very easy to use, responsive, and effective applications, it should come as no surprise that the world we live in has made us all dependent on the applications we use to conduct our daily lives, from banking to grocery shopping to how we keep in contact with our loved ones. However, this need for applications and digital services to continually keep pace with evolving user demands is coupled with the challenge of mitigating an unprecedented rise in malicious security threats.

The risk of security threats and cyber incidents are on the rise, with the 2020 State of SecOps and Automation Report finding that the majority of organizations report that increasing alert volumes are creating problems for  IT security teams, and 93 percent are unable to address all alerts the same day. 

However, for the end-user, there is an underlying understanding that the applications they are using are safe, so when there is a breach, a feeling of betrayal sets in. And when the security of a service comes into question, it makes an optimal user experience more challenging. That’s why securing your applications and delivering a flawless user experience are both necessary to keep users happy and businesses competitive. 

The teams responsible for delivering top-notch user experiences are under tremendous pressure to balance user experience and security. Establishing a DevSecOps model is a great start in ensuring application code is scanned prior to release, but it can quickly become out-of-date and still allow vulnerabilities while the application is in production. For DevSecOps to become increasingly more important through 2022, teams need to have their eye on the overall business objective to have the right balance of collaboration and execution. When you look at the pandemic in 2020, the demand placed on IT overall had never been seen before. It was a struggle to make changes because according to a recent report, two thirds (64%) of responding technologists are now being asked to perform tasks and activities they have never done before.

The rush to the cloud can also increase the amount of vulnerabilities if proper precautions and monitoring are not taken. Additionally, leveraging open source libraries can expose weaknesses in the underlying code. Open source libraries have good intentions to keep their business moving forward and their users happy, but nobody wants to risk a major breach.

Below are the top five ways teams can innovate for a best-in-class user experience while keeping their applications secure.

1. Alignment amongst all stakeholders is a critical first step, as silos amongst IT have been a common issue working with cross-functional teams, especially when you want and need to move fast. In cases where a DevSecOps model is not established, security may even be an afterthought, which can cause delays and tension amongst teams.  Meanwhile, business leaders are commonly left in the dark with technology, and they need a seat at the table. 

2. Develop a security practice that enables the security team to be part of the development and release cycles, such as DevSecOps. Security needs to be an enabler in this scenario and cannot be seen as a roadblock.

3. Be involved in new advancements in security tools enabling a better user experience. There is a lot of discussion about a passwordless world, which many would applaud, and you do not want to miss that wave as passwords are still a top user burden and number-one support cost to help users reset. Leveraging AI will also be a major trend in analyzing security threats, but rest assured, hackers will also be leveraging AI and attacking algorithms to find any weaknesses. This means, it is even more important you stay current on the latest developments.

4. Adopt the mindset of the Site Reliability Engineer and forget about blame. We are in a world where we need to take risks and accept that problems will arise. Ensuring a fast way to identify a problem and rectify an issue quickly will not only help the business but will also instill trust with your customers that you have their best interest at heart.

5. Secure the modern application because security needs to be embedded inside the application, not just around it. This is why security should be agnostic to where the application runs, because applications run everywhere. Additionally, it has to be continuous and automated since applications are super dynamic and change so often.

Applications are key to user and customer experience, which makes them key to business. To optimize applications, it’s important to stay competitive, innovate, and adopt cloud technology. The application matters most, so evolve your security with it.

2020 was a tough year. On the flipside, the opportunities for application developers, UX designers, and security teams to uplevel their positions and careers is tremendous. Living in our digital-first world means that we have a shared experience with our end users and can understand the frustrations and expectations that come with digital services and applications. As consumers, we expect our digital services to be there when we need them, 24 hours a day, and we expect the highest levels of security to be included in those experiences. Your customers expect the same.