What Are Automated Security Checks?

Automated security checks are processes that continuously scan your code, infrastructure, and workflows for security vulnerabilities without manual intervention. These checks are integrated into the DevOps pipeline, allowing you to identify and address security issues early and often, rather than waiting until the end of development.

Why Are Automated Security Checks Important in DevSecOps?

• Catch security flaws as soon as they are introduced;
• Reduce the risk of vulnerabilities reaching production;
• Save time and effort compared to manual reviews;
• Support compliance with security standards and regulations;
• Build confidence in the security of your releases.

Automated security checks help you shift security left, making it a natural part of your development process. By using these checks, you ensure that security is not an afterthought, but a core part of your DevOps workflow.

Common Types of Automated Security Checks

Automated security checks help you catch vulnerabilities early and keep your software safe. Here are some of the most common types you will use in DevOps pipelines:

Static Code Analysis

• Scans your source code for security issues without running the application;
• Detects risky coding patterns, such as hardcoded passwords or insecure functions;
• Runs early in the development process, so you can fix problems before code is merged.

Dependency Scanning

• Analyzes the external libraries and packages your project depends on;
• Checks for known vulnerabilities in third-party components by matching against public vulnerability databases;
• Helps you update or replace insecure dependencies before they cause problems.

Container Image Scanning

• Examines the contents of your container images for security flaws;
• Looks for outdated software, misconfigurations, and embedded secrets inside images;
• Ensures that containers you deploy are free from known vulnerabilities and comply with your security standards.

By including these automated checks in your DevOps workflow, you can reduce risk and deliver secure software faster.

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

Imagine you are working on a web application, and your team uses a CI/CD pipeline to automate the build, test, and deployment process. You want to make sure that your code is secure before it reaches production. Here is how you can integrate automated security checks into your pipeline:

1. Code is pushed to the repository;
2. The CI/CD pipeline starts automatically;
3. A security scanning tool (such as SonarQube or OWASP Dependency-Check) runs as one of the first steps;
4. The tool scans your code and dependencies for known vulnerabilities;
5. If a vulnerability is found, the pipeline is stopped, and you receive a report with details about the issue;
6. You review the report, fix the vulnerability in your code, and push the changes;
7. The pipeline runs again, and if no vulnerabilities are detected, the process continues to deployment.

Why This Matters

By adding automated security checks early in your CI/CD pipeline, you:

• Detect vulnerabilities as soon as code is written;
• Prevent insecure code from reaching production;
• Save time and effort by catching issues before they become bigger problems.

This approach helps you build security into your workflow, making it a natural part of your development process.