Ian Butler • 2024-07-10
Serverless architectures, much like microservices, are a popular way to build and deploy applications. They help take infrastructure management off your plate and onto your cloud provider's. This naturally frees up all your time to think about security.
Hello intrepid reader! Today, we're diving into the world of serverless security.
Serverless architectures, much like microservices, are a popular way to build and deploy applications. They help take infrastructure management off your plate and onto your cloud provider's. This naturally frees up all your time to think about security.
Like normal applications, ensuring the security of your serverless applications is crucial. Let’s explore some best practices to keep your functions safe and sound.
Before we dive into best practices, let's understand what serverless security entails. In a serverless architecture, you offload server management to a cloud provider. This reduces certain security responsibilities but introduces new challenges.
Focus on securing each function and its data in your application. Also, pay attention to securing the interactions between them. Don't just focus on securing the application as a whole. Securing one or a few functions is manageable, but securing many serverless functions can become complex quickly.
Only grant your functions the permissions they absolutely need. This minimizes the risk of someone exploiting a function to access other resources.
How to Implement:
Environment variables often store sensitive information like API keys and database credentials. Handling them securely is paramount.
How to Implement:
Bismuth offers configuration management built directly into our platform. All you need to do is drop in a few lines of code to begin using it.
Serverless functions need strong input validation to protect against injection attacks when handling data from different sources.
How to Implement:
Bismuth primarily leverages Flask in our SDK which has well known integrations for input sanitization and validation.
Implement comprehensive monitoring and logging to detect and respond to suspicious activities quickly.
How to Implement:
Bismuth has built logging and application monitoring directly into it. Once you deploy your application, you can access logs streamed right into our cloud console.
Even though you don’t manage servers, network security still matters. Ensure secure communication between your functions and other services.
How to Implement:
Bismuth makes sure that different functions and applications on our platform are kept isolated to enhance security.
There are some other network security methods like mTLS, but these are a bit harder to use on FaaS, and are more common to microservices where service meshes make it more trivial. We compare serverless and microservices in another post to further explain differences between the two architectures.
Your function code can be an entry point for attackers. Secure coding practices and regular audits are essential.
How to Implement:
To prevent functions from running for too long or using excessive resources, set timeouts and limits. This can help identify abuse or problems.
How to Implement:
Bismuth currently has one size fits all compute for our runtime complete with network and data caps. Businesses are welcome to reach out to us if there is further interest in flexible workloads.
Ensure that only authorized users and services can invoke your functions.
How to Implement:
Bismuth enables authentication and authorization in our SDK through the AuthCodeBlock, which APIs or other applications can use directly.
Even in a serverless environment, you need to keep your runtime environment and dependencies up to date.
How to Implement:
Incorporate security testing into your CI/CD pipeline to catch vulnerabilities early.
How to Implement:
Securing serverless applications involves a combination of traditional security practices and new strategies tailored to the serverless model. By following these best practices, you can mitigate risks and ensure your serverless functions remain robust and secure. Remember, security is an ongoing process—stay vigilant, keep learning, and practice defense in depth. Implementing these tips is sure to improve your security posture.
I hope you found this guide helpful! For more insights on serverless architecture why don't you check out our deep dive post on serverless architecture. Happy coding, and stay secure!