In an era where new vulnerabilities and CVEs are reported almost daily, organizations must establish robust application security practices to defend against cyber attacks. DevSecOps tools are essential in this endeavor, playing a pivotal role in integrating and automating security seamlessly into software development workflows.
DevSecOps tools can be broadly classified into 10 categories, each playing a different role in strengthening application security posture. In the table below, I have listed 10 categories along with the respective DevSecOps tools. These are the tools we suggest, but you are free to pick one from each category according to your requirements
| Security Testing Categories | DevSecOps Tools |
|---|---|
| SAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) tools | SonarQube, Bandit, ESLint, Brakeman, and GitLab SAST |
| DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) tools | ZAProxy, Arachni, Nikto, and SQLMap |
| Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools | Snyk, Trivy, and OWASP Dependency-Check |
| Secrets management tools | HashiCorp Vault, Conjur, Bitwarden, and Keywhiz |
| Secrets Scanning tools | TruffleHog, Detect Secrets, and GitLeaks |
| Binary/ Image Scanning tools | Clair, Anchore Engine, Grype, and Trivy |
| Artefact Scanning tools | Clair, Anchore Engine, Grype, Trivy, OWASP Dependency-Check, and Dependency-Track |
| Environment and IaC Security tools | Kubescape, Checkov, Terrascan, tfsc |
| Vulnerability Management tools | OpenVAS, Clair, and Nessus Essentials |
| Compliance-as-Code tools | Ansible, InSpec, OpenScap, Lynis, and OSSEC |
| Security Testing Categories | DevSecOps Tools |
|---|---|
| SAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) tools | SonarQube, Bandit, ESLint, Brakeman, and GitLab SAST |
| DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) tools | ZAProxy, Arachni, Nikto, and SQLMap |
| Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools | Snyk, Trivy, and OWASP Dependency-Check |
| Secrets management tools | HashiCorp Vault, Conjur, Bitwarden, and Keywhiz |
| Secrets Scanning tools | TruffleHog, Detect Secrets, and GitLeaks |
| Binary/ Image Scanning tools | Clair, Anchore Engine, Grype, and Trivy |
| Artefact Scanning tools | Clair, Anchore Engine, Grype, Trivy, OWASP Dependency-Check, and Dependency-Track |
| Environment and IaC Security tools | Kubescape, Checkov, Terrascan, tfsc |
| Vulnerability Management tools | OpenVAS, Clair, and Nessus Essentials |
| Compliance-as-Code tools | Ansible, InSpec, OpenScap, Lynis, and OSSECs |
In the later sections of this blog, I explain the purpose of the different categories and their respective tools in detail. But first, I’ll address the basic terminologies of DevSecOps and ASPM, and discuss the importance of open source tooling. Feel free to skip this section and jump straight to the crux of the blog if you prefer
DevSecOps tools and their role in AppSec Posture Management
DevSecOps is the practice of integrating security within existing DevOps workflows, making security verification an active and integral part of software development. AppSec Posture Management (ASPM), on the other hand, involves analyzing security signals across the SDLC to improve visibility, manage vulnerabilities more effectively, and enforce security controls
Both DevSecOps and ASPM are crucial initiatives that require process changes as well as the implementation of appropriate tools. In this blog, I’ll discuss the tools that can help automate security controls and enforce policy compliance within the CI/CD pipeline
Why Choose Open Source Security Tools for DevSecOps?
All the tools listed in this blog are open source security tools. They can enhance your security posture while accelerating software delivery. At OpsMx, we recommend open source tools due to the numerous benefits they offer, as outlined below.
Benefits of Open Source Security Tools
Cost-Effectiveness: They are free to use, making them ideal for organizations on a budget.
Community Support: The open source community comprises members with vast knowledge and expertise, providing valuable support.
Customization and Flexibility: Open source tools can be customized to suit your specific requirements and integrated seamlessly into existing workflows.
Transparency and Trust: Full visibility into the codebase promotes transparency and builds trust in the security of the DevSecOps pipeline.
Shortlisting Open Source DevSecOps Tools by Categories
These tools, which are essential components of the DevSecOps pipeline, can be categorized into 10 groups based on their functionality:
- SAST (Static Application Security Testing) tools
- DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) tools
- Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools
- Secrets Management tools
- Secrets Scanning tools
- Binary/ Image Scanning tools
- Artefact Management tools
- Environment and IaC Security tools
- Vulnerability Management tools
- Compliance-as-Code tools
SAST (Static Application Security Testing) tools
SAST tools analyze source code for vulnerabilities, detect flaws early to enhance security, and reduce remediation costs in the SDLC. Common activities performed by SAST tools include code analysis, automated scanning, and compliance and standards enforcement.
Some popular open source tools recommended for SAST are SonarQube, Bandit, ESLint, Brakeman, and GitLab SAST. Overall, SAST tools are a crucial component of a comprehensive application security strategy, enabling organizations to build secure software from the ground up.
DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) tools
DAST tools analyze running applications for vulnerabilities by simulating attacks, identifying security flaws like SQL injections and cross-site scripting in real-time. Unlike SAST tools, DAST tools simulate external attacks on a live application to uncover vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious actors. Common activities performed by DAST tools include runtime analysis, black box testing, identifying configuration issues, testing business logic, and detecting live threats.
ZAP (OWASP Zed Attack Proxy), Arachni, Nikto, and SQLMap are a few popular open-source tools recommended for DAST. They help identify and address runtime vulnerabilities to assist organizations in protecting their applications from potential exploits and breaches.
Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools
SCA tools identify vulnerabilities and license issues in open-source dependencies, helping secure applications by scanning libraries, package manifests, and third-party components. Activities performed by SCA tools include license compliance, policy enforcement, dependency management, vulnerability detection, risk assessment, and security alerts and notifications.
Snyk, Trivy, and OWASP Dependency-Check are some of the popular open source SCA tools for maintaining the security and compliance of applications that rely on open-source and third-party components.
Secrets Management tools
Secrets management tools securely store, manage, and control access to sensitive information, such as passwords, API keys, encryption keys, certificates, and other credentials that applications, services, and users need to function. Activities performed by these tools include access control, secure storage, automated secret rotation, dynamic secrets generation, secret sharing, encryption key management, API, and CLI access.
HashiCorp Vault, Conjur, Bitwarden, and Keywhiz are some of the popular open source tools for securing sensitive information in modern IT environments. They provide a comprehensive solution for protecting and managing secrets, ensuring that applications and services operate securely and efficiently while reducing the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches.
Secrets Scanning tools
Secrets scanning tools are designed to detect and identify hard-coded secrets within codebases, configuration files, and other repositories. These secrets can include passwords, API keys, tokens, encryption keys, and other sensitive information. These tools continuously monitor source code repositories for secrets that may have been hard-coded and inadvertently committed.
TruffleHog, Detect Secrets, and GitLeaks are a few popular open source tools that integrate with CI/CD pipelines to prevent sensitive information from being exposed in publicly accessible or insecure repositories. They issue alert notifications to developers and security teams upon detection.
Binary/ Image Scanning tools
Binary or image scanning tools primarily focus on analyzing container images and binaries to identify security vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance issues in open-source packages and libraries. By integrating these tools into CI/CD pipelines and other development processes, organizations can enhance their security posture and reduce the risk of deploying vulnerable software.
Clair, Anchore Engine, Grype, and Trivy are a few popular open source tools that specialize in detecting vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and malware within containerized applications and compiled binaries, ensuring the integrity of software artifacts.
Artefact Scanning tools
Artefact scanning tools focus primarily on software artifacts. They provide comprehensive scanning for security vulnerabilities, license compliance, and quality assurance across diverse artifact types beyond just containers and binaries, thus helping organizations secure their software supply chain and maintain compliance across different stages of SDLC.
Clair, Anchore Engine, Grype, Trivy, OWASP Dependency-Check, and Dependency-Track are some of the open source tools that integrate with artifact repositories and CI/CD tools to provide continuous scanning and monitoring of a wide range of artifacts stored in repositories.
Environment and IaC Security tools
As the name suggests, these tools help ensure that the infrastructure and environments where applications are deployed are secure, compliant, and resilient against potential threats. They ensure continuous security monitoring by performing automated security checks, detecting infrastructure drift, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and internal security policies.
Kubescape, Checkov, Terrascan, and tfsc are a few popular open source tools that integrate with CI/CD pipelines to secure Kubernetes, cloud, and on-premises environments.
Vulnerability Management tools
Vulnerability management involves identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and remediating security vulnerabilities in systems and applications to reduce exposure and strengthen an organization’s cybersecurity posture. Other capabilities of vulnerability management tools include vulnerability scanning, risk assessment and prioritization, patch management, automated remediation, and asset and configuration management.
OpenVAS, Clair, and Nessus Essentials are a few open source vulnerability management tools that provide a systematic and automated approach to managing vulnerabilities and improving the overall security posture.
Compliance-as-Code tools
Compliance-as-Code (CaC) tools automate security and regulatory compliance checks within the development process, ensuring that an organization’s IT infrastructure, applications, and operations comply with regulatory standards and internal policies. These tools translate compliance requirements into code, enabling continuous compliance checks and automated remediation. Capabilities offered by CaC tools include automated checks, policy enforcement, drift detection, auditing, and reporting.
Ansible, InSpec, OpenScap, Lynis, and OSSEC are popular open source tools that can help you continuously maintain compliance in dynamic and complex IT environments.
Conclusion
While this list isn’t exhaustive, the open source nature of these tools makes them suitable for almost any organization starting their DevSecOps journey. Once your priorities are established, you can customize your tech stack by adding or removing tools that best fit your needs.
At OpsMx, our customers frequently inquire about open source security tools, DevSecOps implementation, and AppSec testing tools, among other topics. If you have further questions that weren’t addressed in this blog post, please find them covered below.
Most frequently asked questions with respect to DevSecOps
What are DevSecOps tools?
DevSecOps tools are software applications that integrate security into the DevOps workflow, automating security checks and compliance within the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
Why is it important to use DevSecOps tools?
Using DevSecOps tools ensures that security is integrated into every stage of the development process, which helps in early detection of vulnerabilities, reduces remediation costs, and improves overall security posture.
How do SAST tools improve application security?
SAST tools analyze the source code for vulnerabilities before the application is run, allowing developers to fix security issues early in the SDLC, thereby reducing the risk of exploits in production.
What are the benefits of using open source security tools in DevSecOps?
Open source security tools are cost-effective, offer community support, are customizable, provide transparency and build trust among users.
About OpsMx
OpsMx is a leading innovator and thought leader in the Secure Continuous Delivery space. Leading technology companies such as Google, Cisco, Western Union, among others rely on OpsMx to ship better software faster.
OpsMx Secure CD is the industry’s first CI/CD solution designed for software supply chain security. With built-in compliance controls, automated security assessment, and policy enforcement, OpsMx Secure CD can help you deliver software quickly without sacrificing security.
OpsMx Delivery Shield adds DevSecOps to your existing CI/CD tools with application security orchestration, correlation, and posture management.
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