5 DevSecOps Practices You Should Follow
Introduction
DevSecOps builds upon DevOps by integrating security into every phase of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). This approach aims to make security a shared responsibility across development, operations, and security teams. As organizations mature in their DevOps practices, incorporating robust security measures is critical to maintaining a secure and scalable development process.
This article focuses on 5 DevSecOps practices that can significantly enhance your application and infrastructure security. By implementing these practices, you’ll be better equipped to address security concerns early and consistently throughout your development process.
1. Shift Left Security and Automated Testing in CI/CD Pipelines
The concept of shifting left in security means moving security testing and practices earlier in the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). This approach, combined with automated security testing in CI/CD pipelines, helps identify and address potential vulnerabilities much earlier, reducing the cost and effort of fixing issues later in the development process or after deployment.
- Static Application Security Testing (SAST): SAST tools analyze source code or compiled versions of code to identify potential security vulnerabilities. Popular SAST tools include Snyk, Semgrep, Checkmarx, and Fortify.
- Software Composition Analysis (SCA): SCA tools scan and analyze open-source components and libraries used in your application to identify known vulnerabilities. Examples include Dependency Check, Mend, and Black Duck.
- Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST): DAST tools scan your deployed web application and find vulnerabilities dynamically. Tools like Invicti, Acunetix, or OWASP ZAP can be integrated into your pipeline to test your applications for vulnerabilities.
- Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST): IAST tools like Synopsys Seeker or Invicti Shark combine elements of both SAST and DAST. These tools provide real-time vulnerability analysis as the application runs.
- IDE Integration: Many security tools now offer plugins or extensions for popular Integrated Development Environments. This allows developers to receive real-time feedback on potential security issues as they write code. For example, Wiz Code or Snyk IDE plugins.
- CI/CD Pipeline Integration: Incorporating security scans into your Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment pipelines ensures that every code change(merge/pull requests, commits, etc.) is automatically checked for security issues before progressing to the next stage.
- Setting Security Gates: Configure your pipeline to fail builds or block deployments if certain security thresholds are not met. For example, you might want to prevent deployment if high-severity vulnerabilities are detected. However, before implementing such measures, consider your DevSecOps maturity to avoid overwhelming development and AppSec teams. To determine your current state on DevSecOps you can use OWASP DevSecOps Maturity Model and understand which level you are currently sitting on and what kind of changes are advised in your level. This model helps organizations assess their security integration and provides a roadmap for advancing maturity levels.
By implementing these practices, organizations can maintain security without slowing down development processes, catching potential issues early and throughout the development lifecycle.
2. Secure Configuration Management
Secure configuration management is crucial for maintaining a robust security posture, especially when dealing with complex infrastructure and cloud environments. It involves systematically handling configuration settings for software, hardware, and cloud services to ensure they meet security standards and best practices throughout their lifecycle.
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Security: Tools like Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, and Ansible allow you to define infrastructure using code. It’s crucial to ensure these definitions adhere to security best practices. Tools like Checkov and tfsec can scan IaC templates for misconfigurations and security issues.
- Policy as Code: Terraform Sentinel allows you to define and enforce policies on your infrastructure code. This ensures that all deployed infrastructure meets your organization’s security and compliance requirements. For instance, with Policy as Code, you can enforce that all storage buckets must have encryption enabled.
- Cloud Configuration Management: Tools like AWS Config and Azure Policy help you assess, audit, and evaluate the configurations of your cloud resources against best practices and internal policies.
3. Dependency Management and Vulnerability Scanning
Managing dependencies and continuously scanning for vulnerabilities is so important in today’s software landscape, where applications often rely heavily on third-party libraries and components. The XZ Utils backdoor incident exposed how supply chain attacks can compromise critical open-source software, emphasizing the need for continuous monitoring.
- Continuous Dependency Monitoring: Use tools like Snyk, Dependabot, or Mend to automatically monitor your dependencies for known vulnerabilities and receive alerts when issues are discovered.
- Container Scanning: Tools like Trivy, Clair, and Grype can scan container images for vulnerabilities in the base image and installed packages.
- Dependency Update Automation: Tools like Dependabot can automatically create pull requests to update outdated dependencies, helping you stay current with the latest security patches.
- Software Bill of Materials (SBOM): Generate and maintain an SBOM to have a clear inventory of all components and their versions used in your application. Tools like Syft can help generate SBOMs. Maintaining an SBOM ensures you know what’s in your software, which is critical in the event of newly discovered vulnerabilities in third-party libraries. Also, SBOM helps with the license issues of the OSS packages as it’s adding such information in the generated report as well.
4. Container Security and Orchestration
As containerization and orchestration technologies like Docker and Kubernetes become ubiquitous, securing these environments is crucial. Container security encompasses the entire container lifecycle, from development to deployment and runtime.
- Image Signing and Verification: Use tools like Docker Content Trust or Notary to sign and verify container images, ensuring their integrity and authenticity. Signing and verifying container images ensures only trusted images are deployed, protecting against tampered images in the supply chain.
- Runtime Security: Implement tools like Falco or Cilium for runtime threat detection in containers and Kubernetes clusters.
- Network Policies: Use Kubernetes Network Policies to control traffic flow between pods and namespaces.
- Pod Security Policies: Implement Pod Security Admission Controller to enforce security best practices for pods.
- RBAC: Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in Kubernetes to minimize the permissions of each component and user.
5. Secrets Management
Proper secrets management is crucial to prevent sensitive information from being exposed in your development and operational environments. Secrets include API keys, passwords, certificates, and other confidential data that applications and systems need to function.
- Centralized Secrets Management: Use tools like HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or Azure Key Vault to centrally manage and securely store secrets.
- Dynamic Secrets: Where possible, use dynamic secrets because they can be generated on-demand by Vault and are automatically revoked after use, minimizing their exposure time.
- Secrets Rotation: Implement regular rotation of secrets to limit the impact of potential breaches.
- Audit Logging: Ensure all access to secrets is logged and audited regularly.
Conclusion
Implementing these practices can significantly enhance your organization’s security posture. DevSecOps is not a destination but a journey of continuous improvement. Regularly reassess your practices, stay informed about emerging threats and technologies, and foster a culture of security awareness across your organization.
Also, if you are unsure about where to start you can consider these two points for a quick start:
- Start by implementing one or two of these practices in your current workflow. Even small steps can lead to significant improvements in your security posture.
- Explore resources like the OWASP DevSecOps Guideline to get a better understanding of where you should be heading and the OWASP Devsecops Maturity Model to determine which level your organization is sitting on at the moment.
Remember, the key to successful DevSecOps is collaboration. Encourage open communication and shared responsibility between development, operations, and security teams to create a truly robust and secure software development lifecycle.
