Automate testing and validation of security controls in pipelines

Automating the testing and validation of security controls within deployment pipelines is essential for maintaining a secure operation of workloads. This process ensures that security vulnerabilities are identified and mitigated early in the development lifecycle, reducing exposure to risks and reinforcing the overall security posture.

Best Practices

Implement Continuous Security Testing in CI/CD Pipelines

• Integrate automated security testing tools into your CI/CD pipeline to validate security controls at each stage of the software development lifecycle. This ensures that security vulnerabilities are identified early, reducing remediation costs.
• Use tools like AWS Inspector and third-party solutions to conduct regular scans of application components and infrastructure to detect vulnerabilities and compliance violations.
• Ensure that security tests are part of build pipelines; this includes linting for security best practices, dependency checks, and configuration verifications before deployment.
• Automate security checks for Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) using services like AWS CloudFormation Guard or Terraform Sentinel to ensure compliance with defined security baselines during the infrastructure provisioning process.

Establish Secure Baselines and Configuration Management

• Define and document secure baseline configurations for all environments (development, testing, production) to ensure consistency across deployments and minimize misconfiguration risks.
• Implement version control for these baseline templates and regularly review and update them in response to new security threats or changes in best practices.
• Use Infrastructure-as-Code tools to provision resources according to these secure baselines, ensuring that every deployment adheres to organizational security policies.
• Monitor for configuration drift using automated tools that can alert or act on changes that deviate from your established security posture.

Automate Compliance Monitoring and Reporting

• Utilize AWS Config and AWS CloudTrail to monitor AWS resources continually and maintain compliance against defined security policies and best practices.
• Set up alerts and notifications for non-compliance or security incidents, so your security team can respond promptly to potential threats.
• Generate automated compliance reports to demonstrate adherence to regulatory requirements and internal security policies, reducing the burden of manual documentation.
• Regularly review and adapt compliance checks and automated reports to reflect changing regulations, industry standards, and emerging threats.

Questions to ask your team

• Have you established secure baselines and templates for your security mechanisms?
• Are your security controls being tested and validated throughout the CI/CD pipeline?
• What tools are you using to automate the testing of your security controls?
• How often do you perform scans on your machine images and infrastructure-as-code templates?
• Do you have a process in place to handle vulnerabilities and irregularities detected during these scans?
• How do you ensure that your templates remain compliant with your security baselines over time?
• Is there a feedback mechanism to adjust your security controls based on the results of your testing?

Who should be doing this?

DevOps Engineer

• Integrate automated security testing tools into CI/CD pipelines.
• Develop and maintain secure baselines and templates for infrastructure.
• Implement scripts and automation for scanning machine images and infrastructure-as-code templates.
• Monitor security vulnerabilities and irregularities during the build process.
• Collaborate with security teams to address and remediate identified vulnerabilities.

Security Analyst

• Conduct regular assessments of security controls for compliance with established baselines.
• Analyze threat intelligence to update security testing protocols.
• Review automated testing reports and provide insights on vulnerabilities.
• Collaborate with development and operations teams to enhance security practices.
• Document and communicate findings and recommendations for continuous improvement.

Cloud Architect

• Design secure architectures that incorporate security automation principles.
• Establish security governance policies and frameworks for workloads in the cloud.
• Ensure compliance with security best practices throughout the development lifecycle.
• Evaluate and select appropriate tools for security testing and validation.
• Guide teams in applying security measures consistently across all cloud resources.

QA Engineer

• Develop and run automated test cases that include security validation.
• Ensure that security scanning tools are integrated into testing processes.
• Collaborate with DevOps and security teams to validate compliance with security standards.
• Provide feedback on security-related issues discovered during testing.
• Help refine testing strategies to include evolving security concerns.

What evidence shows this is happening in your organization?

• Security Control Automation Playbook: A comprehensive playbook that outlines procedures and tools for automating the testing and validation of security controls throughout the CI/CD pipeline. Includes best practices for implementing security baselines and continuous validation.
• AWS CloudFormation Guard Usage Guide: A detailed guide on how to effectively use AWS CloudFormation Guard to automate security checks on CloudFormation templates, ensuring they adhere to established security baselines before deployment.
• Pipeline Security Checklist: A checklist to ensure all necessary security controls are implemented and validated in the CI/CD pipeline. It includes specific items to look for during the security testing phase.
• Security Baseline Template: A template that defines secure configurations and settings for various AWS services, which can be used as a reference point when validating security controls across the organization’s workloads.
• Continuous Security Monitoring Dashboard: An interactive dashboard that visualizes the compliance status of security controls across workloads, integrating data from automated scans and tests conducted at various stages of the deployment pipeline.

Cloud Services

AWS

• AWS CloudFormation Guard: Helps verify that your CloudFormation templates adhere to security policies and best practices, ensuring safe infrastructure as code.
• AWS Config: Provides continuous monitoring, assessment, and auditing of AWS resource configurations, allowing you to track compliance with security baselines.
• Amazon Inspector: Automates security assessments and identifies vulnerabilities within your applications and workloads, helping to validate security controls.
• AWS CodePipeline: Enables you to automate your release pipelines, integrating testing and validation phases for security checks in your CI/CD workflows.

Azure

• Azure Policy: Allows you to define and enforce policies for Azure resources, helping ensure compliance with security standards throughout the deployment process.
• Azure Security Center: Provides integrated security monitoring and policy management to safeguard your Azure resources, including continuous security assessments.
• Azure DevOps: Supports CI/CD practices that incorporate automated testing and validation of code prior to deployment, enhancing security through continuous feedback.

Google Cloud Platform

• Google Cloud Deployment Manager: Enables the creation and management of resources through templates and configurations, with integrated validation against security best practices.
• Google Cloud Security Command Center: Provides security and risk analysis tools to help identify vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in your Google Cloud resources.
• Cloud Build: Offers CI/CD capabilities that allow you to automate the testing and validation of applications as part of your deployment pipelines.

Question: How do you securely operate your workload?
Pillar: Security (Code: SEC)