Infrastructure testing with Secure DevOps Kit for Azure (AzSK)

Learn how to use Secure DevOps Kit for Azure (AzSK) to run security scans against the ARM template and deployed resources.

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How to Extend your DevOps Strategy For Success in the Cloud?

DevOps and Cloud computing are joined at the hip, now that fact is well appreciated by the organizations that engaged in SaaS cloud and developed applications in the Cloud. During the COVID crisis period, most of the organizations have started using cloud computing services and implementing a cloud-first strategy to establish their remote operations. Similarly, the extended DevOps strategy will make the development process more agile with automated test cases.

According to the survey in EMEA, IT decision-makers have observed a 129%* improvement in the overall software development process when performing DevOps on the Cloud. This success result was just 81% when practicing only DevOps and 67%* when leveraging Cloud without DevOps. Not only that, but the practice has also made the software predictability better, improve the customer experience as well as speed up software delivery 2.6* times faster.

3 Core Principle to fit DevOps Strategy

If you consider implementing DevOps in concert with the Cloud, then the

below core principle will guide you to utilize the strategy.

• It is indispensable to follow a continuous process, including all stages from Dev to deploy with the help of auto-provisioning resources of the target platform.
• The team always keeps an eye on major and minor application changes that can typically appear within a few hours of development to operation. However, the support of unlimited resource provisioning is needed at the stage of deployment.
• Cloud or hybrid configuration can associate this process, but you must confirm that configuration should support multiple cloud brands like Microsoft, AWS, Google, any public and private cloud models.

Guide to Remold Business with DevOps and Cloud

Companies are now re-inventing themselves to become better at sensing the next big thing their customers need and finding ways with the Cloud based DevOps to get ahead of the competition.

#devops #devops-principles #azure-devops #devops-transformation #good-company #devops-tools #devops-top-story #devops-infrastructure

A side-by-side comparison of Azure DevOps and GitHub

Collaboration is a crucial element in software development; having the right collaboration tools can make a difference and boost the entire team’s productivity. Microsoft introduced its Application Lifecycle Management product with Team Foundation Server (aka TFS) on March 16th, 2006. This software had to be installed on a server within your network and had a user-based license. To reduce the complexity of setting up and maintaining the server, Microsoft released Visual Studio Online–an Azure-based, server-hosted version of TFS. Microsoft manages and administers the servers as well as taking care of backups. To clarify its commitment to agile and DevOps, Microsoft rebranded Visual Studio Online in 2015 as Visual Studio Team Services and later as Azure DevOps in 2018.

Since its beginning, this platform has changed significantly. For example, it introduced a customizable, task-based build service, release gates, and much more. Many organizations across the world made a significant investment to run their businesses on Azure DevOps. For this reason, after Microsoft announced the acquisition of GitHub in mid-2018, GitHub announced its automated workflow system, which is much like Azure Pipelines. It’s called GitHub Actions. Due to the switch, some companies became afraid of having to migrate their practices again. In the past few months, I have gotten several questions about whether it is still worth starting new projects on Azure DevOps, especially after the release of features like GitHub Advanced Security and GitHub Codespaces (similar to Visual Studio Codespaces). In this article, I’ll clarify the differences between these two platforms, and I’ll give you some advice on how you should be using them to your advantage.

Data Residency

To meet the needs of companies that want to keep their data within their network, both GitHub and Azure DevOps provide a server version of their platform. GitHub version is called GitHub Enterprise Server, and the Azure DevOps version is called Azure DevOps Server. Both versions require the client to install and maintain both software and machine.

On the other hand, there is a critical difference between their cloud-hosted version. While Azure DevOps Service allows you to choose the Azure region, which is closes to your organization’s location, to decrease the eventuality of networking latency during the creation of your organization (collection of projects). GitHub doesn’t provide this feature.

Project management and bug tracking

GitHub

At the core of GitHub project management, we can find the issues. This task can be used to track any work item, from feature to bugs, and can be sorted into a Kanban-style board for easy consultation. The issue’s description also supports markdown syntax. Adding a specific keyword #issue-number (ex: #3) can associate the issue with another one. Each issue can be assigned to multiple developers, be linked to pull requests, and have various labels assigned to it. One can link a pull request to an issue to show that a fix is in progress and automatically close the issue when someone merges the pull request.

GitHub Kanban board

• Lastly, multiple issues can be grouped into milestones that will give immediate feedback about the completion percentage. Milestones can also include a due date.

#azure-devops #microsoft #azure #github #azure devops #azure devops and github

Top Security Penetration Testing Companies

Cybercrime is one of the world’s fastest-growing threats, with malicious actors constantly elaborating their methods of undetectable intrusion. According to Verizon’s Business 2020 Data Breach Investigations report, there has been a 100% increase in web app breaches, and stolen credentials were used in more than 80% of these cases. These statistics are worrying for many businesses that actively move their processes to the cloud and deal heavily with customers’ personal data.

Under these circumstances, companies need to run regular automated and manual tests to determine weak spots in their infrastructure, software, network and physical perimeter security. One of the most efficient testing methods is security penetration testing, or pentesting.

Pentesting is a benign hacking attempt, manual or automated, to break into the system and uncover its vulnerabilities before actual cyber criminals do it. This method is directed at testing the system security controls for their real-world effectiveness. It involves such stages as data collection, threat modeling, vulnerability scans, penetration tests, and so on.

To get proactive with their cyber security protection, many businesses cooperate with professional security testing companies that are able to comprehensively check the system, identify risks, fix vulnerabilities, and stay one step ahead of potential hackers.

The ranking criteria for security testing companies

When asking a professional software testing company to check your system’s security, in most cases you need to grant them access to sensitive information. For this reason, it’s important to choose a reliable company with an exceptional reputation, which will become your trusted partner.

Unsurprisingly, the market of security penetration testing companies is overwhelmingly crowded. To narrow down your search, we have analyzed hundreds of testing companies and compiled the list of top testing professionals. We have applied the following criteria:

• Pentesting expertise
• Portfolio
• Software QA experience
• Market penetration
• Online reviews

As a result, we’ve picked 30 skilled security testing companies and rated them accordingly.

1. a1qa

a1qa is a software testing company from Lakewood, CO, that has delivered over 1,500 successful projects and established 10 Centers of Excellence during their 17 years of operation. It has partnered with more than 500 companies, from smaller businesses to Fortune 500 giants. The company’s prominent customers include adidas, Kaspersky Lab, SAP, Yandex, Forex Club, and more.

a1qa specializes in delivering full-cycle QA and testing services, including comprehensive security penetration testing. Its expertise covers testing of web apps such as portals, ecommerce, media and e-learning platforms, games and online casinos, and line-of-business testing, such as CRM, collaboration, document management, and financial systems. The company also runs a specialized security testing lab.

2. QA Mentor

Founded in New York in 2010, QA Mentor has managed to establish a strong global presence with 12 testing centers around the world. Its team consists of 300 certified QA professionals that have successfully completed over 870 projects, including the ones for Amazon, eBay, Bosch, HTC, and more. The company offers more than 30 testing services, with cyber security penetration testing among them.

QA Mentor is recognized as a top software testing company by Clutch, GoodFirms, and Gartner.

3. UnderDefense

UnderDefense is a certified computer and network security company that was established in New York in 2016. It provides a wide range of testing services, with a special focus on security penetration testing. The company’s certified security testing team has performed hundreds of penetration tests, including compliance-specific tests, app and wireless network penetration testing, and social engineering security testing. UnderDefense has been repeatedly awarded by Clutch.

#testing #software-testing #security-testing #penetration-testing #top-software-testing-companies #software-testing-companies #good-company #code-quality

Best Custom Web & Mobile App Development Company

Everything around us has become smart, like smart infrastructures, smart cities, autonomous vehicles, to name a few. The innovation of smart devices makes it possible to achieve these heights in science and technology. But, data is vulnerable, there is a risk of attack by cybercriminals. To get started, let’s know about IoT devices.

What are IoT devices?

The Internet Of Things(IoT) is a system that interrelates computer devices like sensors, software, and actuators, digital machines, etc. They are linked together with particular objects that work through the internet and transfer data over devices without humans interference.

Famous examples are Amazon Alexa, Apple SIRI, Interconnected baby monitors, video doorbells, and smart thermostats.

How could your IoT devices be vulnerable?

When technologies grow and evolve, risks are also on the high stakes. Ransomware attacks are on the continuous increase; securing data has become the top priority.

When you think your smart home won’t fudge a thing against cybercriminals, you should also know that they are vulnerable. When cybercriminals access our smart voice speakers like Amazon Alexa or Apple Siri, it becomes easy for them to steal your data.

Cybersecurity report 2020 says popular hacking forums expose 770 million email addresses and 21 million unique passwords, 620 million accounts have been compromised from 16 hacked websites.

The attacks are likely to increase every year. To help you secure your data of IoT devices, here are some best tips you can implement.

Tips to secure your IoT devices

1. Change Default Router Name

Your router has the default name of make and model. When we stick with the manufacturer name, attackers can quickly identify our make and model. So give the router name different from your addresses, without giving away personal information.

2. Know your connected network and connected devices

If your devices are connected to the internet, these connections are vulnerable to cyber attacks when your devices don’t have the proper security. Almost every web interface is equipped with multiple devices, so it’s hard to track the device. But, it’s crucial to stay aware of them.

3. Change default usernames and passwords

When we use the default usernames and passwords, it is attackable. Because the cybercriminals possibly know the default passwords come with IoT devices. So use strong passwords to access our IoT devices.

4. Manage strong, Unique passwords for your IoT devices and accounts

Use strong or unique passwords that are easily assumed, such as ‘123456’ or ‘password1234’ to protect your accounts. Give strong and complex passwords formed by combinations of alphabets, numeric, and not easily bypassed symbols.

Also, change passwords for multiple accounts and change them regularly to avoid attacks. We can also set several attempts to wrong passwords to set locking the account to safeguard from the hackers.

5. Do not use Public WI-FI Networks

Are you try to keep an eye on your IoT devices through your mobile devices in different locations. I recommend you not to use the public WI-FI network to access them. Because they are easily accessible through for everyone, you are still in a hurry to access, use VPN that gives them protection against cyber-attacks, giving them privacy and security features, for example, using Express VPN.

6. Establish firewalls to discover the vulnerabilities

There are software and firewalls like intrusion detection system/intrusion prevention system in the market. This will be useful to screen and analyze the wire traffic of a network. You can identify the security weakness by the firewall scanners within the network structure. Use these firewalls to get rid of unwanted security issues and vulnerabilities.

7. Reconfigure your device settings

Every smart device comes with the insecure default settings, and sometimes we are not able to change these default settings configurations. These conditions need to be assessed and need to reconfigure the default settings.

8. Authenticate the IoT applications

Nowadays, every smart app offers authentication to secure the accounts. There are many types of authentication methods like single-factor authentication, two-step authentication, and multi-factor authentication. Use any one of these to send a one time password (OTP) to verify the user who logs in the smart device to keep our accounts from falling into the wrong hands.

9. Update the device software up to date

Every smart device manufacturer releases updates to fix bugs in their software. These security patches help us to improve our protection of the device. Also, update the software on the smartphone, which we are used to monitoring the IoT devices to avoid vulnerabilities.

10. Track the smartphones and keep them safe

When we connect the smart home to the smartphone and control them via smartphone, you need to keep them safe. If you miss the phone almost, every personal information is at risk to the cybercriminals. But sometimes it happens by accident, makes sure that you can clear all the data remotely.

However, securing smart devices is essential in the world of data. There are still cybercriminals bypassing the securities. So make sure to do the safety measures to avoid our accounts falling out into the wrong hands. I hope these steps will help you all to secure your IoT devices.

If you have any, feel free to share them in the comments! I’d love to know them.

Are you looking for more? Subscribe to weekly newsletters that can help your stay updated IoT application developments.

#iot #enterprise iot security #how iot can be used to enhance security #how to improve iot security #how to protect iot devices from hackers #how to secure iot devices #iot security #iot security devices #iot security offerings #iot security technologies iot security plus #iot vulnerable devices #risk based iot security program

10 Cyber Security Tools to Watch Out for in 2021 - DZone Security

With an immense number of companies and entities climbing onto the digital bandwagon, cybersecurity considerations have come up as limelight. Besides, new technologies such as Big Data, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning are gradually more making inroads into our everyday lives, the threats related to cybercrime are mounting as well. Additionally, the usage of mobile and web apps in transacting financial information has put the complete digital stuff exposed to cybersecurity breaches. The inherent risks and vulnerabilities found in such apps can be exploited by attackers or cybercriminals to draw off crucial information data counting money. Internationally, cyber-security breaches have caused a yearly loss of USD 20.38 million in 2019 (Source: Statista). Plus, cybercrime has led to a 0.80 percent loss of the entire world’s Gross domestic product, which sums up to approx. USD 2.1 trillion in the year 2019 alone (Source: Cybriant.com).

In this article, take a look at ten cyber security tools to watch out for in 2021, including NMap, Wireshark, Metasploit, and more!

#security #cyber security #security testing #security testing tools #cyber security tools