Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Security

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has transformed how organizations provision and manage cloud resources, enabling repeatable, version-controlled infrastructure deployments. However, IaC templates can contain security misconfigurations that, once deployed, expose cloud environments to significant risk. IaC security tools address this by scanning templates before deployment, shifting security left in the development lifecycle.

Common IaC security issues include overly permissive IAM policies, unencrypted storage and databases, publicly accessible network configurations, missing logging and monitoring settings, and hardcoded secrets or credentials. These misconfigurations are often introduced inadvertently by developers who may not have deep cloud security expertise.

Tools such as Checkov, tfsec, KICS, and Snyk IaC scan templates against libraries of known misconfiguration patterns and compliance benchmarks like CIS. They integrate into CI/CD pipelines as automated gates, preventing insecure configurations from reaching production. Policy-as-code frameworks like Open Policy Agent (OPA) and HashiCorp Sentinel allow organizations to define custom security rules that are enforced programmatically. By treating infrastructure security the same way as application security, with automated testing, code review, and continuous integration, organizations can dramatically reduce the number of misconfigurations that make it to production cloud environments.