DevOps, as the name suggests, is a combination of software development and IT operations. When combined together, it enhances the company’s ability to deliver software projects and services at a very good speed.

IT professionals often come across development applications, processes, and terms and find it difficult to catch up with them. The DevOps model combines different teams to work closely with each other as a single team on each phase of the software development life cycle, starting from the development to testing and deployment.

With the increase in system vulnerabilities, quality assurance and security teams are also merging with operations and development teams to ensure security practices are being followed throughout the software development at each phase of SDLC(Software Development Life Cycle). DevOps combined with security procedures is often referred to as DevSecOps.

DevSecOps is more focused on creating a ‘Security as Code’ custom by integrating the security tools and applications with an ongoing CI/CD pipeline. It collaborates with developers, operations, testing, and security teams to enhance productivity.

Building a project from scratch is a challenging task as it involves integrating tools and applications from numerous vendors to deploy a final valuable product for an organization. Collecting data, making compatible applications, and adding a security feature requires the DevOps team to ensure that the software infrastructure is intact without any damage from new updates or system vulnerabilities. For this purpose, DevOps is secured with AWS services and tools for a secure and consistent CI/CD pipeline. AWS virtual infrastructure contains tools that apply security checks at each phase of automated code development and quality check process.

Introduction to DevSecOps with AWS

AWS offers a set of flexible tools and services that enables organizations to deliver reliable and secure products using DevOps practices. These AWS tools help automate manual tasks, manage complex codes, and keep track of the velocity of project deployment.

How AWS supports DevSecOps implementation?

• To start using AWS with DevOps, only account creation is required. There is no need to set up or install any software to use its resources and services.
• AWS provides managed services with easy access to its resources so that you can fully concentrate on the core product without worrying about setting up an infrastructure.
• With AWS, it is possible to manage a single instance and build multiple instances by using flexible compute resources that help in configuration and scaling.
• Each AWS service can be used through Command Line Interface (CLI) or through SDKs and APIs. AWS infrastructure and resources can be modeled using AWS CloudFormation templates.
• AWS helps in the automation of manual processes such as development, testing, deployment, container, and configuration management. With AWS, DevSecOps processes become fast and efficient.
• With AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), user policies and permissions can be defined, providing control over the resources to restricted users.
• AWS supports large partner ecosystems to integrate and extend AWS services. Third-party and open-source applications and tools can be used in combination with AWS to build end-to-end applications as per the organization’s needs.
• With AWS’s flexible payment options, one can choose to pay for the services as per the plan to use them. There are no long-term commitments, unnecessary penalties, or termination fees.

DevSecOps tools with AWS

AWS developer tools help store the source code and automatically execute the applications on AWS. These AWS services and tools automate manual tasks, manage complex company environments, and keep track of the high-velocity deployments enabled by the DevOps team. AWS complies with the latest DevSecOps practices so that teams can automate their process, applications’ security, and data protection.

AWS supports DevSecOps implementation by using Amazon Inspector for automated threat management, AWS CodeCommit to make incremental changes to the application and manage source control, and AWS Secrets Manager to retrieve, rotate and manage database credentials and API keys throughout their lifecycle.

AWS Services for DevSecOps

1. Creating a secure CI/CD pipeline

Security can be integrated into CI/CD pipeline by using these AWS tools and services.

AWS CodeBuild is a service that composes source code and executes run-time tests.

AWS CodeCommit is a source code control service that hosts GIT repositories. The DevSecOps team is required to configure the GIT client to use it with the AWS CodeCommit repository.

AWS CodeDeploy — It is a service used to automatically deploy code to AWS and third-party applications and computing services.

AWS CodePipeline is a service that helps DevOps swiftly and securely deploy projects and software upgrades.  

AWS CloudFormation — It is a service that helps DevSecOps teams to build a template of the CI/CD pipeline. It helps in describing and provisioning resources securely and automatically.

AWS Lambda — It is a service that automatically executes source code when an alert is generated in response to triggers. It can conduct static and dynamic code analysis and validation. 

AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store — This service helps make AWS infrastructure transparent for DevOps teams. It can securely manage secrets and store configurations.

2. Applying Security Mechanisms:

Protecting confidential data when uploaded to the cloud becomes the utmost priority. Some AWS tools mentioned below help apply security mechanisms for implementing DevSecOps.

AWS Identity and Access Management – It verifies the person responsible for accessing and implementing alterations to a product.

AWS Key Management Services – It helps manage and create the encryption keys required to protect sensitive data.

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud – It helps in the creation of a private cloud network inside the AWS public cloud network.

3. Automating Security Activities:

Automation is the prime feature in DevSecOps and automation tools play a major role in providing security at each phase of the Software Development Life Cycle. Some of the automated security services include Amazon’s simple notification service that automates person-to-person and person-to-application services.
AWS security hub provides comprehensive security alerts and checks. AWS cloud watch is a resource monitoring tool that gathers logs from AWS accounts and infrastructures. AWS cloud trail monitors call that are made to Cloud Watch API in the AWS account.