Infrastructure as Code treats infrastructure configuration like software code—versioned, tested, and deployed through automated pipelines.
Popular IaC tools
- Terraform: Cloud-agnostic, declarative, state-based.
- AWS CloudFormation: AWS-native, JSON/YAML templates.
- Azure Bicep/ARM: Azure-native infrastructure templates.
- Pulumi: General-purpose languages (Python, TypeScript, Go).
- Ansible: Procedural, agentless configuration management.
Security benefits
- Version control: Track all infrastructure changes in Git.
- Peer review: Pull requests catch misconfigurations before deployment.
- Consistency: Eliminate configuration drift between environments.
- Auditability: Complete history of who changed what and when.
- Rapid recovery: Recreate infrastructure from code after incidents.
Security risks to manage
- Secrets in code: Never commit credentials; use secret managers.
- State file exposure: Terraform state contains sensitive data.
- Overly permissive defaults: Review resource configurations carefully.
- Drift detection: Monitor for out-of-band changes.
Best practices
- Store state remotely with encryption (S3, Azure Blob, GCS).
- Use policy-as-code tools (OPA, Sentinel) for guardrails.
- Scan IaC files with tools like Checkov, tfsec, or Terrascan.
- Implement least-privilege for IaC pipeline service accounts.
- Use modules for consistent, reusable configurations.
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View all termsContainer Image
A lightweight, standalone, executable package containing everything needed to run an application: code, runtime, libraries, and settings.
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A repository for storing, managing, and distributing container images, providing version control and access management.
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Testing a running application from the outside to discover security vulnerabilities by simulating attacks.
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An infrastructure paradigm where servers are never modified after deployment; changes require replacing instances with new ones built from updated images.
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Defining and enforcing security, compliance, and operational policies through code that can be versioned, tested, and automated.
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Monitoring and protecting applications during execution to detect and prevent attacks in real-time.
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