Easy onboarding for iac code repo

Introduction

Prancer cloud security platform uses various configuration files to do the static code analysis on IaC templates. Compiling these individual files from scratch is time-consuming and an advanced subject many users don’t need to know in their day-to-day activities. For the easy onboarding of accounts and repositories into the Prancer cloud security platform, we suggest using the “Configuration Wizard” feature. With just a few clicks, your accounts are onboarded, and you are ready to go! In this post, we want to show you how to do that.

Using Configuration Wizard

Let us see how to use the configuration wizard to connect to different repositories and then be able to IAC scan those repositories.

You need to log in to the Prancer Cloud Security platform. On the admin section, there is a “Configuration Wizard” link available.

On the “Configuration Wizard” page, the first step is to give a name to the collection. A collection name could be related to your cloud, repo, project, business unit, or any other categorization you would like to have in your environment. for example, we put Test ABC in the text box. You need to select IAC to do static code analysis and configure the options. Now you can proceed to the next screen.

The next step for you is to select what kind of IAC scan you want to run. Various IaC formats are being supported in Prancer Cloud Security Platform for Static Code Analysis. Prancer supports both native and third-party formats, including Azure ARM templates, AWS cloud formation, Google deployment files, Kubernetes objects, HELM, and terraform for Azure, AWS, and GCP. Any of these items can be selected as your IaC type. In this example, let us choose the Azure ARM template and then connect it to GitHub for authentication. In the next step, the configuration wizard shows you the GitHub authentication page. You can authorize it to access the repositories that we have and then the list of repositories available here to choose from. You can select your IaC code repository and then click on the finish button.

The wizard goes on and then creates all the configuration items that are needed. When the process finishes, you can go to the report page and see the results. The wizard shows you it has successfully added all the compliance tests for the account and run the tests here, and that is it with the use of the wizard.

It is easy for you to connect to any IaC code repositories to do the IAC scan the codes. Then, the reports are available on the report page.

This is how to use the Prancer configuration wizard to connect to repositories.

Cloud Continuous Compliance

Cloud implementations could grow exponentially over time. For an average company, there are thousands of resources available in the cloud. Maintaining these resources and make sure they are secure is a difficult task.

Also, cloud providers introduce new features and configurations to their cloud resources every week, and it is hard to keep up with these changes from the security and compliance standpoint.

Moreover, cloud security is a dynamic, ever-growing technical field. Usually, it is hard to find professionals who have technical depth in cloud security. And those professionals should keep themselves up to date to make sure they understand all the details and complexities in the cloud.

On top of those, it is very possible that configuration drifts happen in your cloud environment. Cloud engineers using the cloud portal change the configurations on a needed basis, and sometimes, this could introduce security vulnerability to the environment. Due to the scale of resources in the cloud, it is usually hard to find these configuration drifts right away.

Prancer Platform has a continuous compliance scanning engine that can connect to your environment and scan the cloud environment in real-time. Prancer platform can drastically increase your cloud security posture management (CSPM).

Prancer Platform identifies configuration drifts on cloud resources and provides auto-remediation for non compliant resources. From Prancer Portal interface, SecOps team can easily find anomalies in their environment and auto remediate security problems with a click of a button.

Currently, Prancer platform supports Azure, AWS and Google cloud along with Kubernetes clusters. Prancer has implemented the Policy as Code concept for its workflow. We have a comprehensive database of policies with more than 1000 policies based on industry compliance frameworks such as CIS , NIST 800, PCI, HIPPA, HITRUST, CSA CCM and ISO 27001. Moreover, it is possible for the SecOps team to write their custom policies based on enterprise requirements.

Prancer professional services are always available to help you through public channels and private consulting sessions for your security needs.

Static Code Analysis

What is Static Code Analysis?

Static code analysis and static analysis are frequently utilized conversely, alongside source code analysis. This sort of analysis tends to shortcomings in source code that may prompt weaknesses. This may likewise be accomplished through manual code audits. In any case, utilizing computerized instruments is substantially more successful.

List of tools for Static Code Analysis

Static analysis tools refer to a wide cluster of instruments that look at source code, executables, or even documentation, to discover issues before they occur; without really running the code. Following are some of them:

• DeepSource
• SonarQube
• Contact
• DeepScan
• Embold
• Veracode
• Reshift

Static Program Analysis

Static program analysis examines a program performed without executing programs, conversely with dynamic analysis, which is the analysis performed on programs while they are executing. As a rule, the analysis is performed on some rendition of the source code, and in different cases, some of the article code.

Static Code Analysis Control

Static code analysis control is a technique for troubleshooting by analyzing source code before a program is run. It's finished by breaking down a bunch of code against a set (or different arrangements) of coding rules. Static code analysis and static analysis are frequently utilized conversely, alongside source code analysis.

Source Code Analysis tools

Source code analysis tools additionally alluded to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools, are intended to break down source code or aggregated forms of code to help discover security defects. A few apparatuses are beginning to move into the IDE. For the kinds of issues that can be identified during the product advancement stage itself, this is an amazing stage inside the improvement life cycle to utilize such instruments. It gives quick input to the engineer on issues they may be bringing into the code during code advancement itself. This immediate criticism is valuable, particularly when contrasted with discovering weaknesses a lot later in the improvement cycle.

Best Static Code Analysis software 2021

To qualify as a static code analysis framework, an item should: 

• Output code without executing that code
• Rundown security weaknesses in the wake of filtering
• Approve code against industry best practices
• Give suggestions on where and how to fix issues 

The following software qualifies the criteria:

• pycharm
• ReSharper
• Coverity
• stylecop
• source insight

The software can discover shortcomings in the code in a specific area. It very well may be led via prepared programming affirmation designers who comprehend the code entirely. It permits a faster pivot for fixes. It is moderately quick whenever robotized apparatuses are utilized.

 

IaC Security

Infrastructure as Code  (IaC) alludes to the innovation and cycles used to oversee and arrange foundation with programming rather than manual tasks. To begin with, it has supplanted the demonstration of racking actual workers in a server. 

Infrastructure as Code: Security Risks and How to Avoid them:

The most well-known Infrastructure as Code: Security Risks are Ansible, Terraform, Cloud Formation from AWS, and Pulumi. Terraform is the open-source structure by HashiCorp. More than some other structure, terraform has made Infrastructure as Code immeasurably adjustable and open, consequently preparing for the encompassing IaC environment.

Infrastructure as Code DevOps Compliance

DevOps involves close participation among designers and DevOps designs, just as utilizing IaC as a feature of the constant organization. "DevSecOps," likewise begat the "shift-left methodology," is the coordination of safety angles into DevOps. Regarding IaC, DevSecOps intends to coordinate security directly from the beginning of the venture and keep a solid handle on security consistently. It likewise implies utilizing the proper instruments for your responsibility just as mechanizing security.

Automated Infrastructure as code security

Automated IaC Security has gotten fundamental for endeavors nowadays, making them equipped for sending countless applications much of the time. Reason – to speed up business measures, lessen chances included, control costs, fix security, and react viably to new cutthroat dangers. IaC is an essential DevOps practice to cultivate rapid application conveyance life cycle by permitting the groups to fabricate and form programming foundations successfully.

Top 5 Security Risks for Infrastructure-as-code

• Be that as it may, with IaC being so hearty, there brings about a colossal obligation regarding you to oversee security chances.
• Shaky IaC designs can extend the assault surface, which empowers surveillance, list, and even the conveyance of cyberattacks to cloud security.
• IaC formats are utilized to arrange register and containerized occurrences by incorporating base pictures put away in confided-in vaults.
• IaC is utilized to arrange full-stack cloud conditions that may incorporate Kubernetes, compartments, and microservices.
• Untagged assets fabricated utilizing IaC bring about phantom assets that can cause difficulties in distinguishing, picturing, and acquiring discernibleness inside the absolute cloud security.

 

Building an IaC Security and Governance Program Step-by-Step

IaC security and consistency controls into your form control frameworks and CI/CD pipelines, you can begin distinguishing and fixing blunders prior. However, to do as such without being problematic, it's imperative to spread out a system to figure out where and how to implement security controls to meet your objectives without easing back your designers down, from experimentation to overseeing your procedure.

Cloud Security Posture Management CSPM

What is Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)?

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) is a market portion for IT security apparatuses intended to distinguish misconfiguration issues and consistency changes in the cloud. CSPM devices work by inspecting and contrasting cloud security against a characterized set of best practices and realized security hazards.

Cloud Security Posture Management: why you need it now

Since cloud security grows across plenty of regions, CSPM permits associations to merge all possible misconfigurations to a straightforward stage to transfer data. Utilizing CSPM considers the ability to see compliances with systems, for example, CIS v1.1, HIPAA, or SOC 2; this way reinforces trust in your association's item and cloud information security.

Cloud Security Posture Management azure administration upholds the two Windows and Linux working frameworks. It is utilized to assemble, test, convey and oversee applications living in server farms managed by Microsoft. It offers SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS benefits and uses an expansive determination of programming dialects, structures, devices, information bases, and gadgets. Purplish blue presents a comprehensive exhibit of cloud security alternatives that can be arranged to an association's enjoyable necessities, execution, and administration model. These incorporate checking, encryption for information very still and on the way, access the executives, and information recovery.

CloudSecurity Posture Management AWS empowers you to make new AWS accounts in your AWS Organization with AWS-suggested best practices and guardrails set up. Our clients and accomplices frequently request approaches to robotize the execution of some customizations explicit to their association on the making of another AWS account. This is particularly valid for clients.

AWS CSPM considers checking and should be possible through a strategy for mechanization; questions are run intermittently (recurrence is reliant upon the CSPM device) and highlights can take into account programmed making aware of safety administrators who can conciliate the issue when it emerges.

Cloud Security Posture Management market

The segment section is ordered into arrangement and administrations. The cloud model portion incorporates framework as assistance (IaaS) and programming as a help (SaaS). The verticals considered in the report are BFSI, medical care, retail and exchange, schooling, IT and Telecommunication, public area, and different verticals (incl. media and diversion, neighborliness, and assembling). The in general CSPM market is concentrated across five locales: North America, Europe, APAC, Latin America, and MEA.

CSPM arrangement gives perceivability into the public cloud framework of an association, including cloud assets, consistence, and cloud designs. CSPM arrangements were prior known as Cloud Infrastructure Security Posture Assessment (CISPA). The arrangements are created to assist the buyers with moderating the danger of strategy infringement,

Continuous Compliance

Continuous compliance is tied in with building up a culture and procedure inside your association that ceaselessly surveys your consistent position to guarantee you meet your industry and administrative requests while keeping up secure frameworks.

Why does every Organization need Continuous Compliance?

ControlCase gathers and screens important information takes care of from client IT foundation like SIEM, Vulnerability Scanners, Data disclosure, Identity, and access the board, and so forth ControlCase Continuous Compliance Solution utilizes creative and profoundly successful information examination innovation and furnishes you with significant experiences dependent on holes, dangers, and resources in scope. ControlCase gives a brought together dashboard to Continuous Compliance utilizing leader online comfort called SkyCAM, which offers a moment look to consistency and rebelliousness status. This is critical for associations that need to rapidly accomplish consistency across their IT, for example, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2 consistency/guidelines. Continuous compliance helps CISOs, CSOs, Chief Compliance Officers, and different partners guarantee administrative consistency inside their associations.

Continuous Compliance & Assurance ought to ease these problem areas by expanding inner straightforwardness and control while at the same time diminishing everyday obligations and overhead.

Building Continuous Compliance into DevOps

Constant affirmation gives genuine feelings of serenity that the condition of consistency is continuous as opposed to simply a lapsed preview. By executing continuous compliance and assurance, associations can have confidence that their data resources are secured consistently.

Continuous Compliance Monitoring has a compliance-driven DevOps culture that helps decrease operational expenses, improve efficiencies, and diminish hazards impressively. Consistence-related exercises should be remembered ahead of schedule for the product lifecycle by the DevOps groups a similar path as in the testing method. How everybody is looking at moving left for testing the equivalent applies to compliances. Robotization will help in this somewhat. You can't leave the security and consistency-related worries for later stages in the delivery cycle.

Which three practices support Continuous Compliance?

• Constant checking is the interaction and innovation used to distinguish consistency and hazard issues related to an association's economic and operational security.
• The economic and operational security comprises individuals, cycles, and frameworks cooperating to help productive and viable activities. Controls are set up to address hazards inside these segments.
• By consistently observing the activities and controls, powerless or ineffectively planned or executed rules can be revised or supplanted – subsequently improving the association's operational danger profile.

Financial backers, governments, the general population, and different partners keep on expanding their requests for more effective corporate administration and business straightforwardness.

 

Different Validation Strategies

Typically, IaC uses a declarative language, such as JSON or YAML which is human readable, to define the desired configuration state and environment. This information is then processed through a platform that allows for automation. Terraform is a popular option, but also we have native tools available from cloud providers such as AWS cloud formation, Azure ARM templates and Google cloud deployments. While this approach speeds up the deployment process, any code should be tested with the same diligence as other software projects. Exposing a security hole via IaC is usually more dangerous since we are exposing the infrastructure, not just one application.

On the most basic level, any IaC file should be reread and compared against pre-established company standards and industry compliance. This may not catch more subtle problems with functionality, but it is an important step in providing consistent code that meets certain quality requirements. IT professionals can manually perform these validations, which take time and could be error prone, or there are automated tools that can help with the task.

Businesses should also test units of files during the provisioning and configuration stages. While IaC involves stringing together units, it is possible to isolate a unit and run it in a test environment for validation purposes. Once individual units have passed testing, it is time to validate the entire system and verify how different units work together to support a specific workflow. This is an important step in confirming that the system meets expectations.

These initial validation and testing steps provide a strong foundation, but a comprehensive approach that looks to harness the power of IaC, identify problems and improve security will include a plan for monitoring. As mentioned before, any changes to the IaC has the potential to trigger new issues. Automated alerts can be put in place to detect abnormalities and streamline the monitoring process.

Of course, there are a variety of other testing options and each approach will be specific to a business and their IaC. Smaller businesses may not have the IT team in place to handle these challenges, which is why third party options can be a good choice. Cloud validation providers can help with IaC validation and security so that you can focus on development.

If you want to learn more about IaC validation, your testing options, and how a third-party provider may be able to help, contact prancer today. We specialize in helping businesses take advantage of cloud technology and our experts can design a testing and validation strategy that speaks to your specific needs.

Why SQL Injection Attacks on are the Rise?

According to a study by Akamai, SQL injection attacks represented 65% of all web based attacks between November 2017 and March 2019. This is a significant increase over previous years and the US is both receiving the most attacks and the largest source of attacks. The study also found that the gaming industry is being targeted. Hackers are able to gain login credentials from gaming accounts and then use this information to try to login to other accounts. This approach relies on the fact that most people use the same login information for multiple accounts.

The Infamous Heartland Attack

One of the biggest data breaches in history was the result of an SQL injection attack. In 2008, Heartland Payment Systems, which was the sixth largest payment processor at the time, discovered a major data breach that resulted in over 100 million cards being compromised. This sophisticated attack was launched by a team of hackers who identified SQL vulnerabilities and then made changes to the code so that they could remain undetected and collect sensitive card information. This data was then sold to other parties who could use it for their own criminal purposes.

Preventing SQL Injection Attacks

The best way to prevent any cyber attack is to understand your vulnerabilities. This means regularly running tests and updating and patching applications as needed. You can run manual tests or use automated testing tools for continuous monitoring. It is also important to use a firewall to help filter data and identify new vulnerabilities as they arise.

The nature of SQL injection attacks make them difficult to detect and damaging. For these reasons, they are becoming an increasingly popular form of cyber attacks and should be taken into account when creating any cloud security plan. If you want to learn more about SQL injection attacks and how you can work to protect your business, contact the team at prancer. We specialize in cloud security and compliance through validation frameworks. Contact us today.

Why You Need an SSL Certificate?

If you are an eCommerce business that takes online payments, a health organization that stores patient data, or even a non-profit that doesn’t handle any sensitive data, you need an SSL certificate. This security tool represents a new standard in cloud security and plays an important role in your business. Here are just three of the reasons you need an SSL certificate:

1. Better search engine rankings and SEO. Now that Google and all other major search engines recognize and label websites that don’t have an SSL, your SEO will be affected by not having an SSL. Without this security tool, you won’t be able to earn optimal rankings and connect with potential customers. Taking just a few minutes to update your security protocols can directly translate into more business.

2. Up-to-date security. Unfortunately, hackers and malicious actors will continue to try to find ways to access sensitive data. Using SSL certificates will help you stay at the forefront of security practices and take a proactive approach to protect your business and your customers.

3. Provide a trustworthy website. If a visitor lands on your site and sees a message that reads “Not Secure” they may begin to question your business and security practices. Consumers want to support credible and trustworthy businesses. Providing secure and encrypted communications can only reflect well on your business and help to build trust.

Cloud security can feel a bit overwhelming if you aren’t familiar with available tools and protocols. However, there are clear steps you can take to provide better security and safely take advantage of cloud technology. SSL certificates are just one simple tool that goes a long way in protecting user information and building a better business. To learn more about cloud security, contact the experts at prancer.