Automated Security Testing

Automated security testing uses tools and scripts to check your code, applications, and infrastructure for security issues without manual effort. By running these tests automatically in your DevOps pipeline, you can find and fix vulnerabilities early, before they reach production.

Automated security testing is essential in DevSecOps because:

• It helps you catch security flaws as soon as they appear in your codebase;
• It reduces the risk of releasing vulnerable software to users;
• It saves time and resources by identifying issues early, when they are easier and cheaper to fix;
• It supports continuous delivery by making security checks part of your regular development workflow.

You will commonly use several types of automated security tests:

• Static analysis (SAST): Scans your source code for insecure coding patterns before the application runs;
• Dynamic analysis (DAST): Tests your running application for vulnerabilities by simulating real-world attacks;
• Dependency scanning: Checks your project’s libraries and packages for known security issues.

By combining these automated tests, you build stronger, more secure software while keeping your development process fast and efficient.

Example: Integrating Automated Security Testing in a CI/CD Pipeline

Imagine you are developing a web application and want to ensure that every code change is checked for security issues before it is deployed. You can achieve this by adding automated security tests to your CI/CD pipeline.

Scenario

You use a popular CI/CD tool like GitHub Actions or Jenkins. Your goal is to run a security scan every time code is pushed to your repository.

How it works:

1. A developer pushes new code to the repository;
2. The CI/CD pipeline automatically starts and runs unit tests to check basic functionality;
3. Before deploying, the pipeline runs a security scanning tool, such as OWASP Dependency-Check, to find known vulnerabilities in your dependencies;
4. If the security scan finds no critical issues, the pipeline continues and deploys your application;
5. If a vulnerability is found, the pipeline stops and notifies you, so you can fix the problem before releasing the code.

By automating security tests in your CI/CD pipeline, you catch vulnerabilities early and prevent insecure code from reaching production.