DevOps Security — Best Practices for Secure Software Delivery

DevOps has revolutionized the software development industry by enabling organizations to deliver software quickly and efficiently. By promoting collaboration between developers and operations teams and automating processes throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC), DevOps has facilitated rapid software delivery. However, this emphasis on speed has often resulted in overlooking crucial security considerations, leading to inadequate application security. It is essential to address the gap in competitiveness in today’s digital world. We must prioritize robust security measures and speedy software development.

The modern process of building and delivering applications is heavily automated. Applications are typically composed of numerous microservices, which are deployed within containers and run in either public or private cloud environments. This approach offers significant advantages, such as enhanced scalability and resilience, allowing applications to handle high workloads and maintain availability.

While DevOps processes, containers, and cloud technologies offer substantial advantages for businesses, they also introduce challenges to application security. Automating application delivery and adopting microservices or containers creates a complex ecosystem. This ecosystem has many components that need to be monitored and protected constantly. Microservices create more potential targets for attackers. This increases the attack surface and makes application security more difficult.

In many cases, security teams have traditionally viewed security as an infrastructure concern rather than an integral part of application design. Basic measures like firewalls were considered adequate for securing applications. However, this approach proves inadequate when applications are hosted in environments beyond traditional enterprise infrastructure, such as the cloud, containers, or serverless computing platforms. Introducing security testing late in the software development lifecycle causes friction. This impedes business teams from taking full advantage of the speed and scalability benefits of DevOps practices.

DevOps environments use a variety of tools. These include build servers, container orchestrators, code repositories, and image registries. Unfortunately, these tools also present potential entry points for attackers. Application security can no longer be treated as an afterthought in complex environments. It must be considered during the development process.

It is essential to include security measures in all aspects of the environment. This should be done at every stage of application development to guarantee complete protection.

In application development, security should not be treated as an afterthought, especially considering the critical role applications play in business operations. The practice of rapidly deploying code without proper checks significantly heightens the risk of vulnerabilities that can have a severe impact in production environments. It is essential to prioritize security throughout the development process to mitigate these risks and ensure the robustness of applications.

To address the security challenges in the DevOps ecosystem, businesses can adopt DevSecOps, which stands for DevOps Security.

DevSecOps represents the integration of development, operations, and security functions within an organization. It emphasizes the collaboration and cooperation between these teams to ensure that security is integrated into every aspect of the software development lifecycle. By embracing DevSecOps, businesses can effectively balance speed and security, enabling the delivery of secure and reliable software in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Regardless of the terminology used, it has always been essential to incorporate security throughout the entire application lifecycle. DevSecOps emphasizes integrating security as a fundamental aspect rather than treating it as an external perimeter for apps and data. If security is left until the end of the development pipeline, organizations embracing DevOps practices can find themselves reverting to the lengthy development cycles they aimed to avoid in the first place.

We will explore the concept of DevSecOps or DevOps Security, including its procedures, optimal methods, and advantages, in detail.

DevOps Security or DevSecOps Challenges:

Developers aim to expedite the inclusion of software into the pipeline, prioritizing speed. Conversely, security teams strive to minimize potential security flaws by thoroughly addressing vulnerabilities.

• DevOps Team & Security:
  Testing and resolving security issues at the end of the development cycle proves to be time-consuming and resource-intensive.
  DevOps teams have realized that integrating security measures early in the pipeline can be beneficial. It can reduce technical debt, save time, and improve the security of their applications.
• DevOps Tools Risk:
  The utilization of open-source tools in DevOps introduces potential security concerns. Even if these tools are secure themselves, there is a risk that DevOps teams may not implement proper security best practices. Kubernetes is a popular container orchestration tool. However, it is not secure by default. To protect a container cluster, complex measures must be taken.
  To tackle security concerns in the DevOps technology stack, it is crucial to prioritize visibility and observability to understand the environment and the behavior of each component. Additionally, vulnerability scanning is essential for identifying potential weaknesses. Furthermore, implementing automated security controls and strategies becomes necessary to ensure the proactive enforcement of security measures.
• Security Assurance:
  Assessing the adequacy and appropriateness of security practices adopted in the development lifecycle and software can be challenging, particularly in cases where there is a lack of security assurance in the industry, business, or project. It requires thorough evaluation and validation to ensure that the implemented security measures align with the specific business purpose being addressed.
  Security requirements vary across industries and domains. For example, the healthcare industry has different security needs compared to the financial sector. In cases where industry-specific assurance models are lacking, organizations can start by assessing their own security posture and requirements. Engaging with similar organizations in their industry or domain to exchange information can also be helpful in addressing security challenges and identifying best practices.
• Cloud Security:
  The cloud presents a broader attack surface and lacks a clearly defined network perimeter. Even a minor misconfiguration or human error can inadvertently expose essential resources to public networks, posing a significant security risk.
• Organizational Barriers:
  Sharing the DevSecOps journey across the organization, from concept to product, is crucial to avoid problems and ensure a clear understanding of the business and customer needs. Failure to communicate effectively can result in a lack of clarity regarding software requirements and the customer’s operational environment. Breaking down organizational barriers requires effective communication, but different units within an organization often use different communication tools, structures, and goals, which can pose challenges.
  To overcome organizational barriers, start by documenting the journey from idea to product and identifying points of interaction within the organization. Educate executives on the details of the DevSecOps process. Foster connections and cultivate a culture that promotes shared goals and vision. Often, challenges arise due to poor stakeholder collaboration, difficulties integrating pipeline security, and a lack of priority given to security. Addressing these issues is crucial for successful implementation of DevSecOps practices.
• Quality Control:
  Security and quality go hand in hand. In many cases, a lack of quality is linked to the security team’s involvement being delayed, insufficient confidence in releases, and the complexity of systems. To ensure robust quality, it is essential to involve the security team early in the process and address system complexity issues.
• Security Skills:
  Effective collaboration within an organization requires developers, architects, scrum masters, and other key individuals to possess the appropriate skills and a shared vocabulary. This includes knowledge of writing secure code and a common understanding of security principles. In our experience, the absence of a common vocabulary can result in three challenges: the business lacking security skills, developers lacking security skills, and auditors lacking security skills. Addressing these skill gaps is vital for fostering effective communication and ensuring security across the organization.
• Access Controls Management:
  In DevOps environments, controlled privileged access and effective secret management are critical. Both individuals and computing tools rely on credentials like passwords and API access tokens to access sensitive resources.
  Secrets that are not managed properly or have weak access controls can be exploited by attackers. This can lead to compromised credentials, unauthorized access to DevOps infrastructure, disruption of operations, and even data theft. Proper management of secrets and robust access controls are crucial for maintaining the security of DevOps environments.

DevOps Security or DevSecOps Best Practices:

1. Follow a DevSecOps Model:
   To ensure security in DevOps pipelines, embracing a comprehensive DevSecOps model is essential. This approach emphasizes cross-functional collaboration and integration of security throughout the entire DevOps lifecycle. Cultivating a security-focused culture where everyone takes responsibility for security is crucial for achieving robust protection in DevOps practices.
2. Use Penetration Testing and Automated Security Testing:
   Penetration testing is an authorized and controlled effort to exploit vulnerabilities within an organization’s infrastructure. Its purpose is to assess whether malicious activities can be conducted and to provide actionable steps for preventing such activities.
   To ensure comprehensive security integration into the development process, automated security testing is crucial. It enables the detection of defects, vulnerabilities, and data breaches as they are introduced into development pipelines.
   Running these tests frequently provides developers with immediate feedback regarding security flaws, along with instructions for remediation.
3. Create Security Policies:
   Establishing clear and concise policies and procedures is essential for access control, configuration management, code reviews, vulnerability testing, and security tools. It is crucial for developers, operations teams, and security teams to align and ensure the consistent implementation of these policies across the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
4. Automate Everything:
   Automation is crucial for configuration management, code analysis, vulnerability discovery and remediation, as well as privileged access management. By automating these processes, it becomes easier to detect security flaws early on without impeding the pipeline’s speed and efficiency.
   Incorporating security into short and frequent development cycles, integrating security measures seamlessly, adopting innovative technologies like containers and microservices, and fostering collaboration among teams can be challenging for organizations. However, automation plays a vital role in facilitating these changes within a DevSecOps framework, enabling streamlined processes and driving effective collaboration.
   To determine what to automate and how, organizations should have written guidance in place. It is crucial to take a holistic approach and evaluate the entire development and operations environment. This encompasses source control repositories, container registries, the CI/CD pipeline, API management, orchestration and release automation, as well as operational management and monitoring. By considering these aspects, organizations can effectively identify automation opportunities and streamline their DevSecOps practices.
5. Implement Vulnerability Management System:
   Implement a system capable of scanning, assessing, and resolving vulnerabilities across the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC) to ensure secure code before deployment. It is important to recognize that vulnerabilities persist beyond the initial development stage. Therefore, in testing, staging, and production environments, operations and security teams must consistently conduct tests to identify and address vulnerabilities.
6. Privileged Access Management:
   Monitoring and controlling access is vital for ensuring the security of the DevOps stack. Strict control over privileged access helps mitigate the risk of supply chain attacks. It is important to securely store privileged credentials and implement monitoring mechanisms to detect any suspicious activity during privileged sessions.

Best DevOps Security Tools

DevOps Security tools facilitate the integration of security best practices into the DevOps workflow, maintaining the speed of product delivery. Choosing the right tools for specific business objectives can be difficult. There are many open-source and subscription-based options available. It can be hard to decide which ones are the best fit.

We have compiled a selection of top-notch DevOps security tools that can aid you in attaining a successful DevSecOps implementation.

• Aqua Security — Cloud Native Security, Container Security & Serverless
• Checkmarx — Application Security Testing
• Contrast Security
• IriusRisk — The Automated Threat Modeling Platform
• Snyk — Developer Security
• CyberArk — Identity Security and Access Management
• SonarQube — Code Quality Tool & Secure Analysis
• Acunetix — Web Application Security Scanner

Concerned about the exorbitant expenses of obtaining the previously mentioned tools? Check out these DevSecOps security tools that are open source.

• Alerta — Monitoring System
• Brakeman — Vulnerability Scanner
• Snort — Network Intrusion Detection & Prevention System
• ShiftLeft (Now Qwiet AI) — AI powered AppSec platform
• StackStrom — Robust Automation Engine
• OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) — Web Application Security Scanner
• OWASP Threat Dragon — Threat Modelling Tool
• BDD-Security — Automated Security Tests for Web Applications
• Chef InSpec — Auditing and Testing Framework
• Veracode — Intelligent Software Security
• WhiteSource (Now Mend.io) — Autopilot for AppSec
• ThreatModeler — Automated Threat Modeling Solution
• Fossa — Audit-Grade Open-Source Dependency Protection

Modern organizations need an innovative way to review code and detect vulnerabilities. This must not slow down the software development lifecycle (SDLC). This necessitates the adoption of efficient tools and processes that enable swift identification and remediation of vulnerabilities without causing significant delays.

The goal is to find a balance between security and agility. Code must be reviewed thoroughly and any vulnerabilities must be addressed quickly. This must be done while keeping the development process efficient.