May 3, 2024
Ryan Cartwright
An Infrastructure as Code (IaC) scanner is a tool that analyzes and scans IaC configuration files, such as Terraform, CloudFormation, or Kubernetes manifests, to identify potential security risks, compliance violations, misconfigurations, and deviations from best practices.
IaC scanners typically perform static code analysis on the IaC configuration files, parsing and interpreting the code to detect issues such as:
IaC scanners can be integrated into the development workflow, such as in a Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline, to automatically scan IaC configurations as they are created or updated. This enables early detection and remediation of issues before they are deployed to production environments.
By using IaC scanners, organizations can improve the security, compliance, and reliability of their cloud infrastructure while maintaining the benefits of Infrastructure as Code, such as consistency, repeatability, and version control.
Here are some of the top IaC scanners currently used in the market:
The field of IaC scanners is rapidly evolving, with new tools being developed and existing ones being updated or discontinued regularly.
However, here are a few IaC scanners that appear to be deprecated or no longer actively maintained based on their project repositories or documentation:
These IaC Scanners for Terraform can help identify potential security risks, compliance violations, and best practice deviations in your Terraform code. These tools are essential for maintaining security and compliance in infrastructure managed by Terraform and other IaC frameworks, each providing unique capabilities to fit various organizational needs. Many of these tools integrate with popular CI/CD platforms, code repositories, and cloud providers, making it easier to incorporate them into your existing workflows and infrastructure deployment processes.
Resourcely offers a platform focused on streamlining cloud resource configuration and management, emphasizing security, compliance, and productivity for developers and DevOps teams. Unlike traditional IaC scanners that primarily detect configuration issues post-deployment, Resourcely provides a proactive approach by offering secure-by-default resource templates. These templates are designed to prevent misconfigurations before deployment, thus reducing the need for post-deployment corrections and security issues.
IaC scanners typically analyze existing infrastructure scripts to identify security, compliance, and best practices violations. This is essential for maintaining cloud security standards but acts more as a diagnostic tool rather than preventive. Resourcely's guardrails, on the other hand, enable organizations to set and enforce policies throughout the development lifecycle, ensuring that resources are correctly configured from the outset. This approach not only mitigates risks but also enhances developer productivity by abstracting complex security configurations and allowing developers to focus more on development tasks.
Moreover, Resourcely is designed to be deeply integrated with the development process, offering features like automated guardrails, tracking of resource modifications, and seamless integration with SCM solutions like GitHub and GitLab. This integration supports a smooth workflow where compliance and security are built-in, rather than being an afterthought.
"With Resourcely, security is no longer an afterthought; it's the foundation upon which our cloud infrastructure is built. By embedding guardrails into our CI/CD process, Resourcely empowers us to eliminate misconfigurations before they ever have a chance to manifest, fortifying our cloud environments with an impenetrable layer of security from the outset." - Director of Platform Engineering
In summary, while traditional IaC scanners play a critical role in the cloud security ecosystem by identifying and rectifying potential vulnerabilities after configurations are applied, Resourcely provides a more holistic, upfront solution that embeds security and compliance into the initial stages of infrastructure provisioning and management.