Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) environments fall into the category of attractive targets for cyber attackers. As software development and delivery supply chains gain prominence with their usage in cloud environments, they become vulnerable to numerous security risks, making their defense a critical task.
Crucial need for Defensive CI/CD Strategy
Dr. Ethan Givens, the NSA’s Technical Director of Critical & Emerging Technologies, perfectly sums up the centrality of CI/CD pipelines for cloud services. Software forms the backbone of virtual cloud environments. Therefore, securing the software development and delivery process is vital; otherwise, it can provide an attack vector that easily bypasses security policies and products.
The stakes are even higher when considering the typical DevOps CI/CD environments. Malicious cyber actors can manipulate these environments to introduce malicious code into CI/CD applications, gain unauthorized access to intellectual property or trade secrets through code theft, or cause denial of service effects against applications.
Embracing DevSecOps: A Holistic Approach
DevOps is a methodology that marries software development and information technology (IT) operations. The main goal of this marriage is to expedite the software development lifecycle while ensuring the continuous delivery of high-quality products. When security is folded into this, the DevOps methodology is elevated to ‘DevSecOps’.
The CI/CD pipeline forms a critical part of the DevSecOps approach. It integrates security and automation throughout the development lifecycle. Its main focus is on automating the integration and delivery of applications in a secure, swift, and efficient manner. Commercial cloud environments often implement CI/CD pipelines.
Organizations deploy DevSecOps CI/CD tools and services to safely streamline software development processes and manage applications and cloud programmable infrastructure.
Recommendations for Strengthening CI/CD Pipelines
The Cybersecurity Information Sheet (CSI), developed by NSA and CISA, contains several recommendations for hardening CI/CD pipelines. This involves best practices for authentication and access control, development environments and tools, and an overview of the development process.
Both the NSA and CISA advise organizations and network defenders to implement these mitigations to reduce the risk of their CI/CD environments being compromised and to create a hostile environment for malicious cyber actors.
Securing the CI/CD pipeline is indeed a game of vigilance and proactivity, involving regular risk assessments, gap identifications, and fortifying defenses. With the appropriate steps taken, organizations can safeguard their software development lifecycle effectively.
#CI/CD #DevSecOps #cybersecurity #cloudenvironments
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