Application development is one of the domains of the industry that is growing by leaps and bounds. As it grows, so do the various security threats that put them at constant risk. Serverless applications are gaining more and more popularity. This is so, mainly due to the fact that its adoption is easier and the benefits are visible considering all perspectives. The developer, the business leaders, and the user all benefit. However, is your adoption safe? Yes it is, as long as appropriate practices are adopted.
One of these practices is the adoption of tools to facilitate the management of serverless applications. Although, the acquisition and implementation alone is not enough. It is necessary to have more control over them and open source tools provide us with that opportunity, and it is also important not to neglect the security aspect.
As in any situation, any security threat that is detected in time can be controlled and fixed. Thus, potential complications will be prevented in the middle of adopting the application or applications offered by a certain organization. Automating security-related operations with specialized tools is a great benefit. Both for the security of the applications themselves and for their maintenance phases.
What is Serverless?
It is probably the first time you read about it. Whatever the case, it is good to have a definition of the Serverless architecture in question. Serverless is a model of cloud computing execution, the cloud service provider is in charge of the dynamic administration of the hosting and provision of the servers to its clients.
Consequently, an application developed within the serverless architecture runs in stateless compute containers . These containers are triggered by events, these events are triggered by a series of configurable parameters. The latter, in English, is simply known as event triggers .
Also, the containers that host serverless applications are ephemeral, meaning that they can be active for a short time if you “invoke” them once. They are fully managed by the cloud service provider.
It is not unsafe to assume that the main advantage, the one that triggers the others is the cost. It is considerably reduced, in relation to traditional application architectures. Anyone who knows about application maintenance and its traditional infrastructure is extremely aware of how laborious and expensive it is. Extensive and exhausting working hours for specialized personnel is just one of the drawbacks.
Serverless applications rely on executions to calculate the final cost, which means that you pay for the number of executions. The price per millisecond varies with the amount of memory you need. In simpler terms, you only pay for the computation you need, rather than for an amount that you most likely won’t need. One of the leading providers is Amazon, through its Amazon Web Services division, its proposal is called AWS Lambda and you can take a look if you are interested in starting in the Serverless sub-world.
Serverless Application Security Tools Recommendations
Above we have commented that the containers that host this type of applications are 100% managed by the service provider you have chosen, such as AWS Lambda, which we have also mentioned. The fact that the control of the computation that is needed to keep serverless applications in action, no longer runs by the organization responsible for their development, triggers another problem: relying more on third parties for the management of sensitive aspects of the application and its infrastructure.
Therefore, we must have tools that can help us minimize the risk of the appearance and / or penetration of existing security threats, to subsequently eliminate them. Next, we will share 3 tools that will undoubtedly contribute to the security and improvement of Serverless applications.
Docker-Lambda
It is a sandbox ecosystem that replicates all the configurations and functionalities of the Lambda function, which is offered by Amazon Web Services. This replica is more than 90% identical. Now, what does it include?
- Libraries and APIs.
- User names and their permissions
- Contexts of the different calls to Lambda Functions
The direct benefit of adopting this tool is that you will be able to emulate everything that Amazon Web Services does for you in relation to the infrastructure of your serverless application. It is much safer to perform security reinforcement tests or even some pentesting tests in an isolated environment than the one that is official for the user. We must not forget that all this has as its ultimate goal a good and, above all, safe user experience. You can take a look at what Docker-Lambda offers at the following GitHub link .
Note: A sandbox ecosystem is a test environment that isolates any type of code change that has not been tested in the production environment in the application. In other words, the official application and the productive environment that makes it work are not affected by any changes that you want to try.
Protego
It is a web application that tests the various security aspects that must be taken into account throughout the development cycle of an application. From development, deployment, to execution. Protego offers support for Amazon Web Services , Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure , which are two other very popular Serverless service providers.
On the other hand, it supports functions that were developed with programming languages and frameworks such as Java, Python and Node.js. One of its distinctions that uses the “least privilege” or least privilege model, which provides only the necessary permissions for each function present in your application. Application security policies should not be neglected at the Serverless level. This web application allows you to create and configure in a personalized way all the security policies, so you can test all the security policies created by you.
It is also possible to obtain predictions of potential security threats and any type of application failure, even before having to deploy the application in production, that is, make it ready for the user. This, because they constantly update the list of vulnerabilities , based on various resources and algorithms. All the information obtained can be converted into a report, through integration with various external tools. You can access Protego here .
Snyk
Through this tool it is possible to automate both the maintenance processes and those related to the security of the application itself. Detect vulnerabilities in application dependencies, so that you can have them under control and thus avoid future inconveniences. It constantly monitors the application and performs full reviews for security threats.
Configure and customize Snyk according to your needs. For example, you can choose how often tests, reviews, and more will be done. It can be configured so that you avoid consulting the tool itself frequently. Whether via Slack or email notifications, all the necessary information about your Serverless application will be in your hands and most importantly, on time.
It is compatible with various cloud service providers, including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. You can access this tool through this link .
Other safety aspects that we should not neglect
Above, we discussed the fact that Serverless applications work through events . Such events can encompass API gateway commands, cloud storage events, changes to databases, data sets, Internet of Things telemetry, emails, and more. The cybercriminal benefits from the fact that each of these events expands his chances of attacking. Consequently, the elimination of malicious actions such as data injections and / or events becomes more difficult. Not only should traditional web application-oriented firewalls be used, but also security solutions that monitor applications at runtime.
What about the data? Let’s not forget that it is the most valuable asset in the technological field, and let’s not talk about applications. Exposure of sensitive data has always been a concern, especially on the side of users, who use it every day for endless purposes. Many of the practices implemented with traditional applications are compatible with those that are Serverless.
However, let’s not neglect the fact that a cybercriminal can take a look at other data sources to fulfill his malicious goals. You may be able to access the various contracted cloud storage services and database tables. They can easily do without servers.
Despite the fact that the Serverless application architecture is not yet in its most mature phase, its adoption is growing exponentially. Consequently, security must become a priority not only for developers or technology managers. Likewise, professionals in Information Security and Cybersecurity have a duty to internalize in this regard especially to face the numerous present and future threats.
