DevSecOps is a software development methodology that emphasizes the integration of security practices into the software development process, with the goal of delivering secure and resilient software products to users.
In the traditional software development process, security is often an afterthought and addressed only during the later stages of development or in a separate security testing phase. This approach can lead to security vulnerabilities that are expensive and time-consuming to fix, and can also put users’ data and systems at risk.
DevSecOps, on the other hand, integrates security practices into the development process from the very beginning, making security an integral part of the development pipeline. This involves automating security testing, using security-focused code reviews, and implementing security controls and best practices throughout the development process.
Here’s an example of how DevSecOps might work in practice:
Suppose a team of developers is building a new web application for a financial institution. As part of the DevSecOps process, the team implements automated security testing tools that scan the code for common vulnerabilities such as cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection. These tests are run every time new code is committed to the repository, ensuring that any security issues are caught early in the development cycle.
In addition, the team conducts security-focused code reviews, with a particular emphasis on authentication and authorization mechanisms to protect against unauthorized access to the system. They also implement security controls such as encryption and access controls to safeguard user data and prevent data breaches.
Throughout the development process, the team works closely with the security team to ensure that the application is designed and built with security in mind. By following a DevSecOps approach, the team is able to deliver a secure and resilient application that meets the needs of the financial institution and its customers, while reducing the risk of security breaches and other vulnerabilities.
Secure Kubernetes Deployment Configuration: One of the key practices in securing Kubernetes is to ensure that the deployment configurations are secure. You should apply best practices in configuring Kubernetes resources like namespaces, services, and network policies. For example, you can use Kubernetes network policies to restrict network traffic between different services in your cluster, reducing the potential attack surface.
Deny all ingress traffic: This policy will block all incoming traffic to a service.
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
name: deny-all-ingress
spec:
podSelector: {}
policyTypes:
- Ingress
Allow traffic only from specific sources: This policy will allow incoming traffic only from a specific set of sources.
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
name: allow-specific-sources
spec:
podSelector: {}
ingress:
- from:
- podSelector:
matchLabels:
app: allowed-source-app
ports:
- protocol: TCP
port: 80
Deny egress traffic to specific destinations: This policy will block outgoing traffic from a service to a specific set of destinations.
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
name: deny-specific-egress
spec:
podSelector:
matchLabels:
app: my-app
policyTypes:
- Egress
egress:
- to:
- ipBlock:
cidr: 10.0.0.0/24
ports:
- protocol: TCP
port: 80
Allow traffic only to specific ports: This policy will allow outgoing traffic only to specific ports.
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
name: allow-specific-egress
spec:
podSelector:
matchLabels:
app: my-app
policyTypes:
- Egress
egress:
- to:
- podSelector:
matchLabels:
app: allowed-destination-app
ports:
- protocol: TCP
port: 80
Note that these policies are just examples, and may need to be adapted to your specific use case. Additionally, it’s important to thoroughly test any network policies before implementing them in a production environment.
Use Kubernetes Secrets: Kubernetes Secrets is a native way to store and manage sensitive information, like passwords or tokens, in your Kubernetes cluster. Instead of storing these secrets in plain text, you can use Kubernetes Secrets to encrypt and protect them. This makes it more difficult for attackers to access sensitive data in the event of a breach.
Implement Kubernetes RBAC: Kubernetes Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) lets you control access to Kubernetes resources at a granular level. By implementing RBAC, you can limit access to your cluster to only the users and services that need it, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.
apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
name: example-service-account
---
kind: Role
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: example-role
rules:
- apiGroups: [""]
resources: ["pods"]
verbs: ["get", "watch", "list"]
- apiGroups: ["extensions"]
resources: ["deployments"]
verbs: ["get", "watch", "list"]
---
kind: RoleBinding
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
name: example-role-binding
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
name: example-service-account
roleRef:
kind: Role
name: example-role
apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
In this manifest, we first define a service account named “example-service-account”. We then define a role named “example-role” that specifies the permissions to access pods and deployments. Finally, we define a role binding named “example-role-binding” that binds the service account to the role. This means that any pod that is associated with the service account will have the permissions specified in the role.
Regularly Update and Patch Kubernetes: Regularly updating and patching Kubernetes is a critical aspect of DevSecOps. Updates and patches often include important security fixes and vulnerability patches. Make sure to follow the Kubernetes security updates and patch your cluster regularly.
Use Kubernetes Admission Controllers: Kubernetes Admission Controllers is a security feature that allows you to define policies that must be enforced before any request to Kubernetes is processed. These policies can be used to ensure that all containers running in the cluster are using only approved images and other resources.
Integrate Security into the CI/CD Pipeline: Integrating security into the CI/CD pipeline is a key aspect of DevSecOps. You can use tools like container scanning
DevSecOps practices can be applied to Kubernetes, a popular container orchestration platform, to ensure the security of the applications running on it. Here are some best practices for DevSecOps with Kubernetes, along with examples:
Secure Kubernetes cluster setup: The first step in securing Kubernetes is to ensure that the cluster is set up securely. This involves applying security best practices such as enabling role-based access control (RBAC) and using secure network policies.
Example: Use Kubernetes’ built-in RBAC features to grant permissions only to users who need them. For example, a developer should not have the same level of access as an administrator. Limiting the permissions of each user can help reduce the risk of a security breach.
Continuous security testing: Just as with any software development process, continuous security testing is essential for Kubernetes applications. This includes running automated security scans to detect vulnerabilities in Kubernetes resources, such as deployments and pods.
Example: Use security testing tools like Aqua Security or Sysdig to scan Kubernetes resources for security vulnerabilities, such as misconfigurations or exposed credentials. These tools can help identify vulnerabilities early in the development process, allowing teams to fix them before deployment.
Container image security: The container images used to run Kubernetes applications should be secure and free from vulnerabilities. This involves scanning container images for security vulnerabilities before deployment.
Example: Use container image scanning tools like Clair or Trivy to scan container images for known vulnerabilities. These tools can be integrated into the Kubernetes pipeline to scan images automatically before deployment.
Network security: Kubernetes network security involves securing the communication between Kubernetes resources and ensuring that they are only accessible by authorized users and services.
Example: Use Kubernetes network policies to define and enforce rules around how resources can communicate with each other. For example, you can create a policy that only allows traffic between specific pods or namespaces.
Secure secrets management: Kubernetes allows you to store and manage secrets such as passwords and API keys. It’s important to ensure that these secrets are encrypted and secured.
Example: Use Kubernetes secrets to store sensitive data, such as database credentials, and encrypt them at rest. Use RBAC to ensure that only authorized users and services can access these secrets.
apiVersion: v1 kind: Secret metadata: name: mysecrets type: Opaque data: username:password:
In this example, we are creating a secret called “mysecrets” with two key-value pairs: “username” and “password”. The values are base64-encoded to ensure that they are not stored in plain text.
You can create this manifest file and apply it using the kubectl command line tool. Here is an example of how to create the secret from the manifest file:
kubectl apply -f mysecrets.yaml
Once the secret is created, you can use it in your application by referencing it in your deployment or pod configuration file. For example, if you wanted to use the “username” and “password” values in your application’s environment variables, you could include the following lines in your deployment or pod manifest:
spec:
containers:
- name: myapp
image: myapp:latest
env:
- name: MY_USERNAME
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
name: mysecrets
key: username
- name: MY_PASSWORD
valueFrom:
secretKeyRef:
name: mysecrets
key: password
This will inject the values from the “mysecrets” secret into your application’s environment variables at runtime, allowing you to securely access sensitive information without exposing it in your code or configuration files.
By following these DevSecOps best practices, teams can ensure that their Kubernetes applications are secure and resilient, and can reduce the risk of security breaches and other vulnerabilities.
Red Hat as usual has a great overview on the subject here – https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/devops/what-is-devsecops
These are some other very useful links;
OWASP: https://owasp.org/
NIST: https://www.nist.gov/
DevSecOps.org: https://www.devsecops.org/
SANS Institute: https://www.sans.org/
Jenkins: https://www.jenkins.io/