How can you secure your Cloud & DevOps environments?
Explore the challenges and best practices for securing your cloud and DevOps environments, while maximizing innovation and protection of your data and infrastructure.
As the cloud offers unprecedented flexibility, and DevOps accelerates development cycles, the security of these environments becomes a priority for companies seeking to innovate while protecting their data and infrastructures. New vulnerabilities are emerging, making it crucial to implement robust strategies to prevent threats.
In this article, we'll analyze the specific challenges of securing cloud and DevOps environments, best practices for mitigating risks, and the tools and strategies that are essential for ensuring security while taking full advantage of the benefits these technologies offer.
Choosing the Cloud
Cloud computing has become the technology of choice for businesses looking to gain agility and flexibility to accelerate innovation and meet the expectations of today's consumers.
If companies are increasingly choosing to migrate to the Cloud, it's mainly to delegate the infrastructure side of their business, and no longer be responsible for configuration or hardware, which represent high costs and associated constraints. The Cloud therefore enables these issues to be outsourced.
The Cloud also makes it easier to deploy virtual machines (VMs): without the Cloud, deploying a VM would take 2 or 3 days, whereas with the Cloud, deployment is a matter of a few clicks.
Finally, thanks to the Cloud, companies can pay per use. Indeed, the Cloud's financial model is agile, and is characterized by the constant adjustment of available resources to the actual needs of each user. The main advantage of this billing method is that you only pay for the computing resources you actually use. With this scalable service, users have the flexibility to adapt to their business peaks.
Choosing your Cloud infrastructure
Private cloud, public cloud or hybrid cloud?
The choice between public, private and hybrid clouds depends mainly on the applications concerned, the types of data to be processed and the needs of the organization.
The public cloud
The public cloud is provided by providers such as Google, AWS or Azure, and offers infrastructure accessible via a portal. The provider integrates resources into the infrastructure, making them available to companies. These vary from provider to provider, but can include computing capacity, storage, applications, databases, networking and security.
The public cloud offers scalability, resource potential, computing power and an international presence that legacy hosting organizations can't offer. Providers are most often represented by AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Alibaba.
The public cloud is an ideal choice for applications without sensitive or sovereign data, such as web portal deployments.
The private cloud
A private cloud, also known as "on-premise", is a cloud computing environment dedicated to a single organization: these are self-managed, on-premise IT solutions. In a private cloud, all resources are isolated and under the control of a single organization. Thus, the private cloud is also referred to as an internal or corporate cloud.
Companies opting for the private cloud generally have confidential data at their disposal, which requires enhanced security. It may also be due to a lack of in-house expertise in the data platforms offered by public cloud providers, or for historical reasons.
The hybrid cloud
The hybrid cloud combines the advantages of both: it enables confidential data to be managed internally, while using the speed and performance of the public cloud for other applications (website, customer or user application deployment...).
Today, this model is the most widespread in the world among large and medium-sized companies.
IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, CaaS models
If a company decides to migrate to the cloud and choose a public or hybrid infrastructure, it will have to choose between 3 types of services: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, or even more recently CaaS. These terms refer to your use of the cloud within your company, and the level of management you are responsible for in your environments. We can think of these services as a scale: IaaS is characterized by total enterprise management outside the infrastructure, while SaaS is characterized by total delegation of services to the cloud provider.
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS is a reproduction of the infrastructure a company had in a private cloud, but deployed in a public cloud. It provides on-demand infrastructure resources (computing, storage, networking, virtualization, security, etc.). Organizations no longer need to manage, maintain or update their own data center infrastructure, but are responsible for the operating system, middleware, virtual machines and all applications or data.
With IaaS, you have end-to-end control of the project chain, which is an advantage when you want to have a high degree of control, but is more demanding when it comes to potential security flaws, vulnerabilities and threats.
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) infrastructure
It offers platforms for developing, testing and deploying applications without having to create and maintain the infrastructure or platform themselves. They still have to write the code and manage their data and applications, but the application creation and deployment environment is managed and maintained by the cloud provider.
- Software as a Service (SaaS) infrastructure
It provides applications accessible via subscription, eliminating the need to manage infrastructure and software patches. SaaS products are fully managed by the service provider and ready to use, including all updates, patches, global maintenance and data security. Most SaaS applications can be accessed directly via a web browser. So customers don't have to download or install anything on their devices.
- Containers as a Service (CaaS)
CaaS refers to the automated hosting and deployment of containerized software packages. Without this approach, software development teams must deploy, manage and monitor the underlying infrastructure on which the containers run. This infrastructure is a collection of cloud machines and network routing systems, which require dedicated DevOps resources to monitor and manage.
CaaS enables development teams to think at the container level, rather than managing the infrastructure below. This approach offers better visibility of the end product, making development more agile and bringing greater value to the customer.
Cloud vulnerability to threats
Migrating to more dynamic cloud environments requires new approaches to security, in order to guarantee the safety of infrastructure, data and applications. The cloud presents greater security risks than those encountered in traditional environments, because perimeter security equipment is not automatically deployed.

Data leaks in the cloud are very often the result of misconfigured security services or uncontrolled changes to security settings.
When it comes to sensitive data, it's crucial to secure it with robust encryption protocols and strict access and key management.
Ransomware represents a major threat, paralyzing systems until a ransom is paid. Ransomware is malicious computer software that holds data hostage. Ransomware encrypts and blocks the files on your computer and demands a ransom in exchange for the key to decrypt them. What's more, you need to be aware that even when the ransom is paid, company data can be resold to competitors or on the Darkweb.
Regular backups and incident response plans are essential to protect against this type of attack. Specialized partners are available to support you in this area.
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks aim to make services unavailable to corporate consumers by saturating them with traffic. As a result, the site crashes or ceases to function, denying service to legitimate users and preventing legitimate traffic from reaching its destination. For e-commerce sites in particular, this results in a consequent loss of sales, as well as an increase in the load on the cloud service, and thus a rise in the service provider's bill.
Unlike on-premise environments, cloud providers offer protection against DDoS attacks that can prevent malicious traffic from reaching a website or disrupting communications with web APIs, limiting the impact of the attack, while allowing traffic to pass through so that business can continue as normal.
Corporate phishing is a technique used to embezzle funds and steal sensitive information. Hackers send an e-mail or trick individuals via fake websites: if they succeed in stealing internal access, they can, for example, execute transfers to fraudulent accounts.
The consequences of a successful attack are far-reaching: financial damage, theft of sensitive data, loss of third-party confidence, etc. Faced with fraudulent e-mails and bogus websites, companies need to arm themselves. In addition to anti-phishing software, it is advisable to equip yourself with an automatic fraud detection solution.
User awareness and the use of multi-factor authentication methods are equally effective measures for reducing risk.
The benefits of the Cloud
In a world where digital transformation is essential, cloud computing is emerging as a key pillar, offering flexibility, scalability and access to advanced technologies. Companies are adopting the cloud to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency and foster innovation. With robust, secure infrastructures, the cloud enables organizations to focus on their core business while benefiting from flexible availability.
Reduced production time
Instances can be created or deleted in seconds, speeding up developers' work through rapid deployment. Cloud computing fosters innovation by making it easier to experiment with new ideas and design new applications without the constraints of hardware limitations or slow provisioning processes.
Scalability and flexibility
Cloud computing enables you to rapidly scale your resources and storage space to meet your business needs, without having to invest in physical infrastructure.
Savings
You only pay for the resources you actually use. You avoid overestimating your needs and over-provisioning your data center, and your IT teams save valuable time so they can concentrate on more strategic tasks and projects.
More efficient collaboration
Cloud storage lets you make data available anywhere, anytime. Instead of being tied to a specific location or device, data is accessible to users worldwide from any device.
Advanced security
Cloud computing can actually strengthen your security strategy, thanks to the depth and coverage of security features, automatic maintenance and centralized management it incorporates. When a new virtual machine is deployed, the latest updates introduced by the cloud provider are already integrated. It is then up to the enterprise to keep it up to date.
Protection against data loss
Suppliers offer backup and disaster recovery capabilities. Storing data in the cloud rather than locally can prevent data loss in emergency situations.
How DevOps meets the Cloud
What is DevOps?
DevOps is a collaborative approach that unifies application development (Dev) and IT operations, or infrastructure (Ops), triggering the implementation of an agile method. It aims to improve the speed and quality of software deployments by automating and integrating processes.
Developing Infrastructure as Code
IaC (Infrastructure-as-Code) involves managing and provisioning an infrastructure using lines of code, rather than manual processes. Using scripts and description languages, administrators and developers can define all necessary resources (such as servers, databases, networks, etc.) in a programmable way. This configuration can be stored in text files, enabling the infrastructure to be versioned, tested and replicated in the same way as software code.
Thanks to IaC, it's possible to deploy a solution that provides teams with a working environment that's easily accessible via automatic authentication, and enables applications to be created and tested with a single click.
The key feature of the deployed code is its "idempotent" characteristic, which is a function that can be executed several times but always produces the same result, preventing human error. This ensures a secure, high-quality experience for users and developers alike.
CI/CD, an essential component of the DevOps method
The CI/CD approach has the same objective as IaC: to accelerate the frequency of application distribution. It is based on the automation of application development stages. The CI/CD approach is defined by continuous integration and continuous deployment.
- Continuous Integration (CI) enables developers to merge their code changes more frequently into a shared "branch", which is often critical and needs to be protected. Changes to be merged are automatically tested for the slightest conflict between existing and new code (at all levels: classes, functions, modules, etc.). Any malfunctions are thus resolved earlier, more frequently and more quickly.
- Continuous Deployment (CD) is a software development practice in which every code change that passes all automated test phases is automatically deployed in production.

This approach speeds up the deployment of updates and new features, reducing time-to-market and offering customers improvements and innovations more quickly and frequently. This flexibility and responsiveness is essential to maintaining a competitive edge in a constantly changing environment. By integrating automated testing throughout the CI/CD pipeline, every code change is rigorously checked, significantly improving code quality and reducing the risk of introducing bugs in production.
The automation of repetitive, manual tasks, which is a pillar of CI/CD, frees developers to concentrate on higher value-added tasks, improving their efficiency and productivity.
DevOps points of attention: sponsorship and security
The main danger of the DevOps method is not having strong sponsorship for its implementation.
Firstly, because DevOps represents a significant cultural change, requiring a transformation of processes, tools and behaviors within the organization. This change can only be effective if it is driven by management, who must lead by example and encourage collaboration between development and operations teams.
Management sponsorship is also crucial in providing the resources needed to implement DevOps. This includes investment in automation tools, team training, and possibly structural reorganization to align DevOps objectives with the company's strategic priorities. Without financial and strategic support, DevOps initiatives risk lacking coherence and failing to achieve widespread adoption.
Secondly, because management plays a key role in defining performance indicators and monitoring progress, which is essential for assessing the impact of DevOps and adjusting strategies accordingly.
The flexibility of cloud-based DevOps can make companies particularly vulnerable to software threats. To ensure the security of cloud-based DevOps, it is crucial to control privileged access to the back-end of all cloud-based system elements. This includes development, test and production environments.
Although not all users can modify other accounts or system configurations, those who can log in and modify production code should be considered as privileged users. These users must be regulated by access control policies.
Only administrators with appropriate rights should be able to access back-end systems, and monitor and manage all privileged account access. In a cloud-based DevOps context, secure, optimized management of user authorizations and activity histories is essential for optimum security.
Solutions such as password safes and regular key rotation policies are essential.
These non-human privileged credentials are often called "secrets" and refer to private information that serves as a key to access protected resources or sensitive information contained in tools, applications, containers, DevOps and cloud environments.
Among the most common types of secrets are the following:
- Privileged account identifiers
- Passwords
- Certificates
- SSH keys
- API keys
- Encryption keys
Cybercriminals target these elements to gain access to other secrets and hosts to accomplish their mission. Secret management enables organizations to consistently apply security policies to machine identities. It ensures that resources from all tools, platforms and cloud environments are only accessible to authenticated and authorized entities.
A secrets management initiative typically includes the following steps:
- Authenticate all access requests using non-human identifiers.
- Apply the principle of least privilege.
- Apply role-based access control and regularly renew secrets and credentials.
- Automate secret management and apply consistent access policies.
- Track all accesses and maintain an exhaustive audit trail.
- Remove secrets from code, configuration files and other unprotected areas.
DevOps and Cloud: a winning duo

Historically, IT teams operated in silos, working autonomously on their respective projects. This segmented organization limited the ability to multiply projects, as achieving faster infrastructure deployments requires close collaboration. It was in this context that the alliance between Cloud and DevOps proved innovative. By decompartmentalizing teams, this alliance enables infrastructure teams to collaborate effectively with development and network teams.
The cloud is a natural fit for DevOps: everything goes much faster when there's no need to set up an on-premises development environment. The Cloud offers a modern environment, integrating high-performance, flexible machines. In turn, DevOps methodology promotes rapid deployment of applications and patches. The combination of Cloud and DevOps accelerates development and deployment cycles, while improving application quality and security. This synergy facilitates innovation and strengthens service resilience.
This alliance makes it possible to deploy and update applications without impacting the end-user, while guaranteeing integrated security right from the design stage. DevOps tools integrate naturally with the security solutions offered by cloud providers, particularly when it comes to identifying and encrypting data in transit.
Best practices for securing your Cloud and DevOps environments
Adopting a "Security by Design" approach means integrating security right from the start of the development and design of cloud and DevOps infrastructures.
The cloud provider takes care of cloud security, but not security in the cloud. It will secure its data centers and the services it makes available to businesses (as well as their updates). However, it is up to companies to secure their use of the service and apply sound access management.
Rather than adding security measures at the end of the process, this proactive approach integrates security practices and controls right from the design phase and throughout development, testing and deployment.
This includes continuous risk assessment, the use of secure design principles, the implementation of strict security policies and the automation of security testing. By adopting "Security by Design", developers can anticipate and mitigate vulnerabilities from the outset, creating more robust and secure applications while reducing the cost and effort of fixing security flaws after the fact.
This approach also makes it easier to comply with safety standards and regulations, while boosting user and customer confidence in the safety of the products and services we offer.
When it comes to securing a cloud infrastructure, we essentially assign and manage the roles of different users, giving them only the rights they need to create the operations they're in charge of. This method is also known as Role Based Access Control (RBAC).
Instead of configuring access to systems or networks on a per-user basis, RBAC enables IT administrators to configure a set of permissions for different roles, and then assign these roles to users according to their position and the level of access they require. Teams can thus easily add, modify and delete authorizations for all users in a group with the same role, or quickly modify the access level of a single user.
RBAC still works the same way:
- A user is assigned one or more roles
- These different roles are assigned specific authorizations
- User obtains authorizations when active in assigned role
- Privileges are granted to certain users based on their assigned role and authorization.
Here are the main roles that can be assigned to users:
- Directors
- End-users
- The guests
- Any other specialized group
RBAC is ideal for companies looking for a scalable, easy-to-manage governance solution.
Authentication is the process of determining that you are who you say you are. It is based on a certificate that determines the user's identity using electronic documents called digital certificates.
The digital certificate is used to prove identity by confirming possession of a private key. Digital certificates contain :
- Identification data
- Information about a public key
- A digital signature derived from the certificate authority's private key and verified by its public key
For certificate-based authentication to work properly, the user must have a private key with information corresponding to the public key in a certificate. Each public key forms a pair with a unique private key. Although public keys are published, the corresponding private keys are kept secret. Data encrypted with the public key can only be decrypted with the corresponding private key.
Vault is a tool for centralizing the management of your team's passwords (login, encryption key, password, tokens, etc.), as well as securely sharing passwords within the organization according to user privileges.
A team password manager like Vault eliminates the main problem associated with passwords: remembering them. With Vault, all you need to remember is the unique master password that unlocks the password vault.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an access management component that requires users toprove their identity using at least two different verification factors before accessing their tool. With MFA, if one factor is compromised, the attacker must still pass at least one barrier before gaining access to the target's account.
AMF uses several technologies to authenticate a user's identity: users must therefore combine the verification technologies of at least two different groups or authentication factors. These factors fall into three categories:
- What you know (PIN code, password, questions/answers)
- What you have (badge, smartphone, USB key)
- Who you are (biometric fingerprints, facial or voice recognition)
Vulnerability scanners are essential for identifying vulnerabilities that could be used by malicious actors to compromise systems and data. They monitor for configuration errors or coding flaws.
These are automated tools that identify and create an inventory of all IT assets (including servers, desktops, laptops, virtual machines, containers, firewalls, switches and printers) connected to a network. For each asset, it identifies operational details such as the operating system it runs and the software installed on it, open ports and user accounts... Vulnerability scanners can be classified into 2 categories:
- Web application vulnerability scanners: these scan application or website code for compromising vulnerabilities. They are an essential component of application security testing.
- Network application vulnerability scanners: these monitor Web servers, their operating systems and any other services open to the Internet, such as database services.
Here are the steps a vulnerability scan tool needs to identify vulnerabilities:
- Misconfigurations and lack of patch management. Resolving these configuration issues through analysis will create consistency across your entire network and increase its security.
- Scan for security vulnerabilities on the network, workstations, servers, firewalls, etc. Since a vulnerability scan will only reveal vulnerabilities when activated at a certain time, they need to be programmed to run periodic automated scans.
- Analyze results to access your network vulnerabilities, including historical trends and current details.
- Prioritize threats by determining :
- Their criticality and potential impact on the organization
- The ease with which an attacker could exploit the vulnerability
- The ability to reconfigure existing security controls to reduce the risk of exploitation available
- If vulnerabilities are false positives
- Produce reports to correct faults
The benefits of securing your Cloud & DevOps environments
Implementing these different practices brings many advantages in terms of productivity and safety:
Greater efficiency
If a team decides that users associated with a certain role need access to a new resource, it only needs to modify the permissions for that role, rather than configuring permissions for each individual user.
Separation of duties
No single user can be the source of a major breach, as a hacker would be limited to the resources this account is authorized to access.
The "principle of minimum privilege" and "Zero Trust
This principle is distinguished by the allocation of the smallest number of access authorizations to a user according to his or her roles.
Reducing the administrative burden
User roles can be added and changed quickly, and implemented globally across operating systems, platforms and applications.
Advanced safety
Improving compliance with data protection and privacy regulations.
Simplifying access
Users can access their tools by logging in, without having to remember multiple combinations of usernames and passwords.
Easy certificate deployment
Particularly for certificates, which are stored locally and set up without the need for additional hardware. Administrators can easily issue them for new recruits, renew them and revoke them when they are no longer needed.
The different stages in securing your infrastructure
To sum up our article, here are the different steps for securing cloud and DevOps infrastructures:
- Define the users who intervene on infrastructures
- Define roles for different users
Is a RACI in place? (Responsible, Approving, Consulted, Informed) - Identify the tools that are in place, the different groups and the users integrated into each group, the different pipelines and the different solutions deployed in the cloud.
- Check that deployed resources include the right tags and that deployments are properly tracked in FinOps tools
Ready to start securing your Cloud & DevOps environments?
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