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How to secure server-less apps

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Serverless applications are isolated, less persistent, read-only and no privilege to escalate. These applications perform specific functions and are very efficient and less expensive. It is also known as a cloud function. The server-less app is still in the developing stage so the security implication for these new applications is still not fully understood. By applying security practices they can reduce the chance of compromise.

How to secure serverless functions

According to a survey the largest challenges in serverless applications were debugging, monitoring and testing whereas it was estimated that 35% of companies don’t have security tools and guidelines for securing the serverless code.38% of the firm were insecure with the security visibility they had in their serverless applications. Using traditional protection like firewall web applications and endpoint protection solutions are not enough to keep serverless applications secure.

Given below are few application security best practices every company can follow to improve security for serverless applications.

Design and develop with security in mind

Every firm should detect vulnerabilities through static code analysis and penetration testing. Use a safe API to validate event data which scan incoming HTTP/HTTPS traffic to serverless apps. A firm should design and start with a security plan and should use a threat model to understand threats and risks.

Ensure your identity and access management (IAM)

A firm should use identity and access management (IAM) to ensure the identity, roles, and permissions whether they are configured correctly or not. Functions should be given privilege according to the task they perform. If a function needs to read make sure that its permissions are read-only.

Put as little sensitive data into the function’s source code as possible.

A firm should make sure that all data are encrypted. Next, the authentication method should also be ensured that they are robust and uses the FaaS providers. These steps should be evaluated regularly. Try not to write sensitive data in the serverless code as it can be exfiltrated and attacked at any time.

Understand how to develop serverless applications properly.

It is important to develop serverless applications properly after fully understanding it. Weakly developed auto-scaling functions can drag on resources. When it is not properly developed it looks like the application is suffering from denial of service attack which is usually down due to the user’s error.