A DevSecOps solution for your apps on AWS from Snyk

AWS offers the infrastructure, innovation, services, and reliability to run your mission-critical applications, which is why millions of customers partner with AWS to build, run, and scale applications in the cloud. But how can customers proactively ensure the security of these critical applications?

The AWS shared responsibility model has AWS managing the security of the cloud (hardware, software, networking, cloud facilities, etc.), but it is the partner/customer’s responsibility to secure applications running in the cloud (operating systems, applications, utilities, configurations, etc.).

Partnering with Snyk provides customers with the tooling they need to build and run securely with AWS. 

Three reasons to adopt DevSecOps in AWS

Adopting a shift left approach to security, i.e., integrating security from the earliest stages of development, reduces the security backlog early and reduces code issues development teams would eventually have to address. However, the cloud native technology revolution has changed how development and security teams work, making simply shifting left just a start. 

This is due to modern teams’ increased reliance on microservices, containerization, and continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, which demand a more holistic and collaborative approach to ensure the seamless integration of security into the entire software development lifecycle.

1. Scale: Developers outnumber security professionals at a ratio greater than 8:1. This creates a massive disparity between the traditional security model and the talent pipeline required to support it. Additionally, as organizations continue to hire more developers than security professionals, an obvious challenge to scalability arises.

2. Speed: Traditionally, organizations used to align security with development using the Waterfall model, which involves distinct phases like design, implementation, testing, and maintenance, with each phase dependent on the completion of the previous one. 
   
   In contrast, today, most organizations have shifted to a DevOps model emphasizing continuous collaboration between development and operations teams, aiming to automate processes and deliver software more rapidly and iteratively. 
   
   However, a common challenge with a DevOps model is that its quick pace and emphasis on continuous integration and deployment sometimes lead to issues with inadequate testing and present the need to align security processes with the rapid pace of development. 

3. Scope: Traditional on-prem development involves building and maintaining software and infrastructure within physical data centers, which offers full control and security but often requires higher initial capital investment and limited scalability.
   
   In contrast, today, cloud native development, which enables greater scalability, flexibility, and reduced operational overhead, presents security challenges, including managing data across distributed environments, securing microservices and containers, and addressing potential vulnerabilities in shared cloud infrastructure, demanding a robust and adaptable security strategy.

Shifting left is a great start because it primarily addresses the early stages of development, but security must be continuous and through the SDLC to adequately account for the evolving and dynamic nature of modern software development and deployment. 

While integrating security early helps reduce issues and backlogs, the cloud-native paradigm, focusing on scalability, speed, and distributed environments, introduces complexities and challenges that require ongoing, adaptive security measures. 

A holistic security approach with Snyk & AWS

A holistic DevSecOps approach integrates security practices and considerations throughout the entire software development lifecycle, promoting a proactive and collaborative approach to security within the DevOps framework.

Snyk and AWS provide the security tooling you need to get a 360-degree view to improve the security posture of your applications and cloud environment on AWS. With Snyk’s developer-first security platform, you can automate security controls across your AWS application and security stacks to find and fix vulnerabilities across:

• Proprietary code

• Open source dependencies

• Containers

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

With Snyk, you can scale security across every component of the application. Snyk empowers developers to drastically reduce the time it takes to find and fix security issues across your AWS application stack.

• Scan open source packages for vulnerabilities using Snyk’s unique first-party integration with AWS CodePipeline.

• Automate security controls in CI/CD using Amazon CodeCatalyst and monitor for security issues in the Snyk UI.

• Scan container images in Amazon ECR and leverage base image upgrade recommendations.

• Find and fix misconfigurations and compliance issues in your AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, or Amazon EKS files.

• Leverage Amazon EventBridge to build near-real-time notification and response workflows around Snyk audit logs and security findings.

Additionally, Snyk provides the flexible controls and visibility needed to standardize security and enforce best practices across the AWS environment without compromising the speed of development.

• Leverage Snyk’s vulnerability insights within Amazon Inspector to prioritize the most severe vulnerabilities first.

• Use custom security and license policies to define acceptable security and legal boundaries and automatically apply them across the SDLC.

• Use role-based access controls (RBAC) and monitor Snyk audit activity across your application fleet in AWS CloudTrail Lake.

• Ingest Snyk security findings and events into AWS Security Hub to help security teams visualize and route security events to automated workflows.

• Accelerate onboarding to the Snyk developer-first security platform using Snyk’s integrations with AWS Control Tower.

Download the full DevSecOps on AWS buyer's guide

You can learn more by reading our Buyer’s Guide: Choosing a True DevSecOps Solution for your Apps on AWS or book a live demo with a Snyk security expert and learn why Snyk is the chosen AppSec solution for developers and security teams alike — and what it can do for your team.

If you use the AWS Marketplace to discover, evaluate, and purchase third-party software, visit our marketplace listing to try Snyk for free directly from the AWS Marketplace!