Integrate Security into Azure DevOps with Role-based Training and Virtual Environments

Integrating Security into Azure DevOps

Microsoft Azure DevOps offers a comprehensive range of tools for building sophisticated development, deployment and operations pipelines. Teams can work in the cloud with Azure DevOps Services or on premises using Azure DevOps Server. Both deliver integrated features through web browsers or IDE clients. With Azure DevOps teams can use all services or choose just what they need to complement existing workflows.

Integrating best practices into your Azure DevOps pipelines is crucial for continuous deployment without compromising security. Role-based training can help developers seamlessly integrate security into every stage of the DevOps workflow, ensuring compliance and secure development practices from day one.

Key Steps for Effective Security Integration:

• Use Azure Active Directory (AD): Centralize identity and access management to control who has access to what resources. Azure AD also supports Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for additional security.
• Apply Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) & Privileged Identity Management (PIM): Limit access to only what’s necessary using RBAC and PIM for just-in-time privileged access. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access and potential breaches.
• Azure Policy & Infrastructure as Code: Enforce security standards across environments with Azure Policy and use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like ARM templates and Blueprints to ensure secure and compliant configurations.
• Pipeline Security: Automate security testing like Static, Dynamic, and Interactive Application Security Testing (SAST, DAST, IAST). Secure your secrets with Azure Key Vault, and ensure that all data is encrypted both in transit and at rest.
• Monitor Security Compliance: Leverage tools like Azure Security Center for real-time threat protection and Azure Sentinel to aggregate security logs and detect vulnerabilities.

Azure offers a wealth of valuable technology and process tools to boost security across DevOps. To use these effectively, cloud developers, cloud engineers, DevOps engineers and other SDLC team members need trusted guidance and hands-on experience.

How CMD+CTRL Security Supports Secure Development for Azure Environments

Microsoft’s secure development best practices recommend building security into each phase of the development lifecycle to detect issues early and reduce rework. This is crucial for Azure Developers managing complex cloud environments, data security and compliance needs. The right software security training should equip Azure developers with the skills to integrate security into every phase of their DevOps process, to build resilient applications while deploying at speed.

CMD+CTRL ensures that your development team is equipped with the knowledge and tools to deliver secure applications in Azure with practical, role-based learning to help teams build secure code from the ground up. With over 350 courses and skill labs aligned to the Microsoft SDL, our progressive learning journeys are tailored for developers, operators, and defenders, ensuring everyone across the organization gets the appropriate level of training.

What sets us apart?

Our Azure-native, simulated environment – Forescient - allows learners to test and refine their skills in a dedicated cloud platform setting. Through gamified, hands-on scenarios, development teams gain real-world experience that reinforces secure coding practices and challenges users to find cyber vulnerabilities across multiple servers, services, accounts and a web interface. A mission-based story line guides players through over 30 common cyber challenges, including cloud misconfigurations, data exposure, abuse of cloud services and more.

In their report on the cyber range landscape, Datos Insights said

“There is no other choice regarding upskilling application and API developers, and organizations will find CMD+CTRL an exceptional tool to upskill application developers.”

With CMD+CTRL, you can assess your team’s skills and optimize training time while they learn security best practices and demonstrate their mastery in an immersive, realistic environment. Visit our Forescient page to learn more about our Azure-native cyber range or contact us today to learn how we help empower developers to build secure applications, not just in Azure but a wide variety of other frameworks and environments.