The development ecosystem has changed dramatically over the last 5 years and has given way to the concept of software supply chain security. In this p

Hardening software development environments 101

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2022-09-22 12:00:10

The development ecosystem has changed dramatically over the last 5 years and has given way to the concept of software supply chain security. In this piece, we cover the different components of software supply chain security and how a zero trust approach can help you secure your development environments more effectively.

Before the pandemic, most companies used perimeter security, locking down all on-premises machines and funneling all inbound traffic through firewalls. But today, when remote work is still widespread, they have to control access from the outside by employees who might bring their own device (BYOD).

Developers and their development environments are part of the software supply chain, so if their accounts get compromised, attackers get control over parts of this chain. Nowadays, many developers are working on these environments from their homes and can end up as entry points for malicious code or let attackers steal credentials to production services. Therefore, while “hardening” used to mean securing a developer’s local computer, it now also means bolstering the security of the tools they need to do their work. These include source code management (SCM) tools, binary artifacts, and build/CI/CD pipelines.

This article will explain what a zero trust approach is and how it helps to secure development environments in times of remote work.