We are working hard adding features to our new Tripwire for DevOps service, initially announced at BlackHat 2018. If you are a loyal State of Security follower, last you read we added Auditing for Amazon Machine Images (aka AMIs). Today, we are introducing CIS policy compliance auditing for Docker images. Tripwire for DevOps allows you to evaluate your Docker Images to check for policy compliance at build time.

Tripwire for DevOps continues to add new features and capabilities. The newest of these is the ability to perform vulnerability scans against Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) in the same Tripwire for DevOps workflow used for your Docker containers. This blog will discuss the creation of AMIs and how to audit them for vulnerabilities within Tripwire for DevOps.

An effective container security strategy consists of many parts. Organizations should first secure the build environment using secure code control along with build tools and controllers. Next, they should secure the contents of their containers using container validation, code analysis and security unit tests. Finally, they should develop a plan to protect their containers in production systems by focusing on runtime security, platform security and orchestration manager security.

The first article in this series examined configuration hardening—essentially looking at ports, processes and services where security configuration management (SCM) is key. The second article looked at application and version hardening strategies. This third installment will discuss the role of automation in the coming of age of what’s called “continuous hardening.”

The first article in this series examined configuration hardening, essentially looking at ports, processes and services as the “doors, gates and windows” into a network where security configuration management (SCM) becomes the job of determining which of these gateways should be open, closed, or locked at any given time. Now it’s time to look at application and version hardening.

Although many organizations are shifting security to the left and embracing the integration of security tools into their continuous integration / continuous delivery pipelines, there are others who have different wants and needs.

It amazes me how many people confuse the importance of vulnerability scanning with penetration testing. Vulnerability scanning cannot replace the importance of penetration testing, and penetration testing on its own cannot secure the entire network. Both are important at their respective levels, needed in cyber risk analysis and are required by standards such as PCI, HIPAA and ISO 27001.

Cybercrime is becoming more sophisticated by the day. Meanwhile, the price for a breach due to damage and disruption, ransom payments and regulatory fines, is increasing. No wonder there’s more of a need than ever for companies to set up a dedicated SOC using SIEM to identify threats and raise the alarm. But is that enough to fight the hackers?

DevOps is redefining the way organizations handle software development. But it’s also challenging security professionals in their efforts to manage digital risk. With that said, there are security teams need to be strategic about how they approach DevOps security. Here are some expert recommendations on what to do and what to avoid when implementing security in the DevOps lifecycle.

The ability to feed key security information onto a big screen dashboard opens up many new opportunities for managing the day-to-day security and maintenance workload as well as providing a useful method of highlighting new incidents faster than “just another email alert.”