Welcome everyone, and thanks for watching my talk. I'm Peleg and today we're going to talk about two amazing topics, configuration and security. This talk's title configuration, the weak link in the security chain, isn't just a catchy phase. It encapsulates a critical challenge in today's cybersecurity landscape and in the realm of Devsec oss, configuration often go unnoticed, yet it hold immense power in the security and functionality of our system. Throughout this talk, we will delve into why and how configurations can become a weak link if not managed properly. So before we'll dive into configuration, let me introduce myself. My name is Pelk Bharat. I've been a software developer more than eight years, mainly focused on cybersecurity and networks, and in the past three years I've been leading configu trying to make misconfigurations caused by poor configuration management a thing of the past. Let's start by outlining what we will explore in these talk. First, we will take a deep dive into application configuration. Then we will take a closer look at permissions over configuration and these challenges they present. Permission can be a tricky landscape to navigate, and we will see how missteps here can lead to significant security vulnerabilities. Next, we will discuss the risk associated with unencrypted file in the era where data breaches are all too common. Understanding the need for encryption and why it's so important. Now more than ever, we will see and talk about monitoring configuration and automation and why both are key areas. And finally, we'll wrap up with some best practices and a possible solution for secure configuration strategy. These will equip you with actionable insight that you can take back to your team. Our exploration begin with our software Bible, the twelve factory guide. And I know some folks here will find these guide a bit old school, but it does a good job of explaining the basic. And in particular we will focus on the config section and talk about application configuration and every software is a combination of code that specifies these logic and kind of static and configurations that define the behavior of the software between the different environments. You can think of configuration as a bench of setting that tell our software how to act. It's like giving specific instruction to a video game so that it know how to start and what level difficulty to use. As we develop software, we keep configurations separate from the code and store them in separate locations or dedicated files for that. These include configuration like environment variables, secrets to keep data safe, feature flex to maybe turn certain function on off and other implementation of application configuration. Before we dive deeper, let's define configurations management. Think of it as the blueprint of your dev operations. It's the process of systematically handling changes to a system in a way that maintain integrity over time. In Devsecops, configurations management plays a pivotal role. It's like a conductor of an orchestra, ensuring every instrument, or in our case, every piece of configuration, works in harmony. Without it, you risk descending into chaotic, uncoordinated efforts that compromise both security and functionality. Why is it so important? Well, configurations management allows us to keep track of all of our aspects of our software. It plays a crucial role in security. A wellmanaged configuration process means we have tight control over our environments, making it harder for unauthorized changes or breaches to occur. It's like having a wellguard fortress with a clear record of who has a key and why. So as we delve into the nuances of configuration management, remember, it's not just a technical necessity, it's the backbone of efficient and secure software development and operations in the world of devsecops. Now let's take a closer look at one of these most intricate aspects of configuration management permissions. Imagine you were in a maze and each turn represent a different repository or folder in your system. This is what managing permissions in a fragment environment feels like. Firstly, let's talk about fragment storage. In many organizations, configuration are scattered across versus repositories, folders and third parties, tools like secret managers, featureflow solutions, infrastructure tools, cloud vendors, and many more. It's like having your clothes spread out in different wardrobes in different rooms. To get dressed, you need to know which wardrobe has your shirt, which one has your pants, and so on. Similarly, in configurations, you need to know where each piece of the puzzle lies, which can be a daunting task. In addition to the fragmentation issue, the binary nature of permissions add another layer of complexity. In most systems, permissions worked in a yes or no fashion. Imagine if entering a room in your house required a special key, but each key either unlock all the room or none. This is the challenge we face in configurations. Either you have full access to all of your configuration files or you have none. It's like using a sleg hammer when a scalpel is needed. This lead us to two significant issue over permissions and under permissions over permissions are like giving someone the master key to your entire house. When they only need to water the plants, they have access to everything, which is a massive security risk. On the other end, under permissions are like giving someone a key that opens none of the doors they need. This can hinder productivity and efficiency, as team member may not have an access to the configuration necessary for their work. Let's take a real world example to understand the implications. Think about scenario where a junior developer accidentally gets access to a critical production database due to over permission. Conversely, consider a situation where a senior developer doesn't have access to a specific configuration file needed to fix a critical bug. The delay caused by underpermission could mean significant downtime and potential revenue loss. To sum it up, managing permissions in a fragment environment is like trying to navigate through a maze with a blindfold. As we move forward, we will discuss how to effectively manage these permissions and turn this challenging maze into a well organized library. Let's shift our focus to another critical issue in configurations management, the dangers of storing sensitive data in unencrypted files or raw text. To illustrate, let's talk about one of the data breaches that Facebook suffered from here, hundreds of millions of user records were stored on servers without any encryption. These wasn't just an oops. Moment, it was a monumental oversight in data security. Imagine every like every message, every photo laid bare for the world to see. It's a digital nightmare, both for user and for the company. So how does this happen? Often, it's not out of malice, but rather lapse in security practices. Developers, in the rush of their daily tasks, may store configuration or sensitive data in clear text files for their convenience. It's like leaving your keys in the car because you're just stepping out for a minute. But all it takes is a minute for a breach to anchor. What's more concerning in the casual sharing of these unencrypted files, developers may ping each other with configurations on slack or email, not realizing they are passing sensitive information through insecure channels. These brings us to the question, how do we prevent such accidental exposure? It starts with a culture of security. Just like locker doors or windows, encrypting sensitive data should be a reflex, an automatic part of the process. Tools like Hashcorp Vault or AWS secret manager are like digital locks, offering an added layer of security to your sensitive information. Education and awareness are also key. DevOps need to educate about the risks of unencrypted files and the best practices for handling sensitive data. Finally, implementing strict policies and using tools for automated encryption can help, too. It's an extra step, but it's crucial for safety. In our world, encryption is not just a best practice, it's a necessity of safeguard not just data, but also the trust and privacy of our users. Now let's dive into another aspects of configuration management, the challenge of monitoring the changes. In many organizations, the monitoring of configuration changes is fragment two across versus platform and tools. It's like having different parts of the story told by different people in different languages. You get bits and pieces, but never the full picture. This fragmentation makes incredibly difficult to have a comprehensive view of what's happened in real time. And speaking of real time, the lack of real time alerts is like having smoke alarm that only goes off after the fire is spread. Already in the word of configuration, delays in detecting changes can lead to significant issues, from system downtimes to security breaches. It's not just about spotting these changes, it's about understanding its impact instantly. This brings us to the concept of proactive versus reactive approaches. Most monitor systems are reactive. They alert you after the fact. It's like treating a disease instead of preventing it in the first place. In ideal world, we want our monitoring system to be proactive to alert us of potential issues before they become an actual problems. A good example to consider here is the use of advantage monitoring tools like datadog or splunk. They don't just record what's happening, they analyze patterns, predict potential issues, and alert you in real time. It's a shift from a passive surveillance systems to an active defense mechanism. However, implementing such systems is not without its challenges. It requires a deep understanding of the configurations, the interdependencies, and the potential risks. In summary, effective monitoring of configuration changes is not just a lecture, it's necessity. In today's face security conscious world, it requires the right tools, the right strategies and a proactive mindset. As we navigate in a complex world of devsecops, let's remind that our goal is not just to monitor, but to anticipate and protect. Let's turn our attention to a crucial aspect that often gets overlooked in configuration management, the automation gap. Imagine try to build a skyscraper with just hammers and aims. That's what it's like to manage modern configuration manually. It's not just inefficient, it's nearly impossible, given the complexity and the scale of today's systems. First, let's talk about manual processes versus automation efficiency. In the manual world, every change, every update requires human intervention. Manual processes are prune to errors. They are time consuming, and let's be honest, they are a bit boring too. Automation, on the other hand, is fast, efficient and reduce the chances of a human error. The role of automation tools cannot be understated here. Tools like ansible terraform and puppet are superheroes of the devsecops world and help us to automate the infrastructure processes. They automate the tedious, repetitive tasks, allowing teams to focus on more complex strategic initiatives. But with great power comes great responsibility. Automation is powerful, yes, but it's not about setting it and forgetting it. It's about finding the right balance. You are not replacing humans, you are augmenting them. People still need to set these parameters, the rules, the checks. In conclusion, bridging the automation gap in configuration management is not just about adopting new tools. It's about changing mindset from doing everything manually to embracing the power of automation. It's about being smarter, faster and more secure in how we manage our configuration as we move forward in the ever involves landscape of DevOps. Let's remember that automation is not just about tools. It's strategic ally in our quest for efficiency and security. And now for the interesting part. Now let's discuss how to fortify our configuration chain. Securing the chain is akin to fortifying a castle. It's not just about building high walls, it's about having multiple layers of defense, each serving a specific purpose. Firstly, let's consider the layered security approach. This means having different security measures at each stage of the configuration process. It's like having guards at the gates, surveillance cameras around the perimeter, and a safe for your most precious values. Each layer addresses different security aspects, from access control and encryption to monitoring and alert system. The goal is to create a system where if one layer fails, the other till protect the castle. Integrating security into configuration management is not just an add on, it's a fundamental part of the process. These integration means considering security implications in every decision, from the design phase to deployment and maintain and maintenance. It's about asking the right questions. How will this change impact security? Are there any potential vulnerabilities? What's the worst that could happen? One crucial aspect often overlooked in human elements, securing configuration is not just about technology. It's about people. Training and awareness are key. Everyone from developers to executives need to understand these role in maintaining security. It's about creating a culture where security is not an afterthought, but a fundamental part of everything we do. Finally, let's talk about continuous improvement and adaptation. The digital landscape is constantly evolving, with new threats emerging every day. Securing your configuration chain is not a onetime task, it's an ongoing journey. Regular audits, staying updated with the latest security trends and being willing to adapt are crucial. In summary, securing the configuration chain is multi faced in Denver. It requires a blend of technology, processes, and people all working in harmony. Now that we understand these security challenges and the importance of managing configuration property, let me briefly introduce configure, an open source tool that was designed to address a lot of the issues I brought up. Configure provides a structured approach of managing configurations across different environments, system and technologies. It's built to provide a common, flexible and extendable process for storing, mutating and orchestrating configuration data across all the different environments and systems. Configu takes an approach of configuration and code that ensures streamlined, efficient and secured configuration management for your application. To gain better understanding of how configure works, I will show how we solve these issues using configure. Let's go back to our permission issues. Effective permission management is about ensuring that each user in your organization has access to just the right resource, no more, no less. In configuration, not everyone needs access to every piece of data. In our old example, our junior developer doesn't need access to our production service. By limiting access to necessary resources, you reduce the risk of data breaches and other security incidents. There are many approaches to implement permission systems, but in this talk I will focus on two RBAC role based access control and ABAC attribute based access control. Think of ArbAC as the generic way most systems use like permissions to your GitHub. For example, for your repository, you can give to an individual or a certain group some permission over the repo. For example, I can give my developers or one of the teams permission to any repo or any microservice. On the other hand, ABAC is more like Google Drive. I can give specific permission for only one of my files. Each of these approaches has its own advantages and disadvantages, and when we think of our configuration management needs, we understand that alone, these are not good enough. That's why at configu we implement these combination of both so we can give the ability to easily manage environments using the RBAC layer and at the same time give permission to specific config, for example, my log level in production to one of my developers. Effective permission management is about striking the right balance between accessibility and security. It's a delicate dense you need to ensure that your team has the access they need to be productive, but not so much that it puts your system at risks. By implementing smart strategies and leveraging the right tools, you can turn this challenging task into a streamlined and secure process. Let's focus again ensuring the safe of sensitive data. Data is a valuable commodity, and unencrypted data is like leaving money on the table in a crowd place. It's an open invitation for cybercriminals. So what tools and practices are essential for securing handling of this data? Think of encryption tools like hashcore vault or AWS secret manager as your digital locksmiths. They convert sensitive information into a coded language understandable only by those who have the key. It's crucial to implement these tools not just as a one time measure, but as an integral part of your ongoing data management practices. And these tools alone aren't enough. We need to think about preventing unintentional data explosion. We can use secret managers, but then sending each other configurations as a clear text using slack issues the point and increase the risk as we believe that our secrets are safe. But no, they are not. This is where configure can help. We use configu for collaborating around configuration to make sure we always have the most updated version, but without keeping a local version as simple or a raw text, configure's open source software can manage and orchestrate everywhere you and your team are storing configuration, including secret managers, and create unified management layer, which enables collaboration and automations. As a conclusion, ensuring data encryption is not just a technical requirement, it's a fundamental responsibility. As guardian of data in the digital age, it's our duty to ensure that every piece of sensitive information is locked away safely, accessible only to those who need it and have the right for it. By implementing robust encryption practices, we not only protect data, but also build trust. Now let's turn our automation back to the monitoring aspect. The need for comprehensive monitoring tools in today's complex it or DevOps landscapes cannot be underestimated. They provide visibility into your system, help you understand how different components interact, and alert you to potential issues before they escalate. As we use tools like datadog, splunk, or promotes to monitor our code and get visibility of it, we need tool that will allow us to keep an eye on every configuration we have, ensuring that we're always a step ahead of any problem. Using config, we're getting exactly that as it connects all the different store under a single unified interface and give us a way to track and monitoring all configuration changes in one place, with no jumping between several tools. By doing so, you not only ensure the smooth operation of your system, but also safeguard your organization against unforeseen challenges. Last, let's back into the automation part. Imagine a symphony orchestra where each instrument plays a vital role. Now imagine a conductor who could orchestrate this symphony with precision and harmony. In our world, automation is that conductor bringing together various elements of configurations management into streamlined performance. Tools like Ansible, terraform and puppet are the masters of efficiency in the infrastructure world. They take on repetitive, time consuming tasks, allowing DevOps teams to focus on more strategic, high value activities. It's like having a team of skilled assistants who tirelessly work 24/7 ensuring everything is in the perfect order. These same need exists in application configuration world, and using Configu, you can automate the entire configurations process from the developer to production. It deploys configurations, manage updates, and ensure consistency across environments, all without human intervention. Automation in configurations management is about harnessing the power of technology to perform tasks more efficiency accurately and security and securely sorry than we ever could manually. As we step into an era where speed and agility are paramount, automation stands out as a key enabler, allowing us to scale our operation, reduce the errors, and focus our human talent on automation and strategic thinking. Remember, securing our configurations is a continuous journey of improvement. It's not a destination you reach, but a path to walk every day. The digital landscape is ever chain like the shifting sands of a desert. New challenges and threats emerge, constantly requiring us to adapt, learn, and grow. It's an ongoing process of tuning, tweaking, and transforming our practices to stay ahead of potential risks. Let's take the insight from today and turn them into an actions. Let's secure not just our code or infrastructure, but also our application configurations. If you want to learn more about configu and see how our team implemented it, you're more than welcome to visit our open source project on GitHub or try our SaaS platform. Thank you for watching my talk and feel free to reach out and ask any question or thought. Bye.