Security

A comprehensive guide to securing your Terraform configurations and infrastructure deployments.

Provider Authentication

Secure Credentials Management

  1. Never Store Credentials in Code

    # DON'T do this
provider "aws" {
  access_key = "AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE"  # WRONG!
  secret_key = "wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY"  # WRONG!
}

    Instead, use:

    • Environment variables

    • Instance profiles/managed identities

    • Vault integration

    • Cloud-native credential management

  2. Use Provider Authentication Best Practices

    AWS Example:

    provider "aws" {
  region = "us-west-2"
  assume_role {
    role_arn = "arn:aws:iam::ACCOUNT_ID:role/ROLE_NAME"
  }
}

    Azure Example:

    provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
  use_msi = true
}

Infrastructure Security

Network Security

  1. Default Security Groups

    resource "aws_security_group" "default" {
  ingress {
    from_port   = 0
    to_port     = 0
    protocol    = "-1"
    cidr_blocks = ["0.0.0.0/0"]  # WRONG!
  }
}

    Instead:

    resource "aws_security_group" "secure" {
  ingress {
    from_port   = 443
    to_port     = 443
    protocol    = "tcp"
    cidr_blocks = [var.allowed_cidr]
  }
}

  2. Network Isolation

    • Use private subnets for resources

    • Implement proper network segmentation

    • Use VPC endpoints where possible

Access Management

  1. IAM Best Practices

    • Use least privilege principle

    • Implement role-based access control

    • Regular rotation of access keys

    • Enable MFA for user accounts

  2. Resource Policies

    resource "aws_s3_bucket" "secure_bucket" {
  bucket = "my-secure-bucket"
  
  versioning {
    enabled = true
  }
  
  server_side_encryption_configuration {
    rule {
      apply_server_side_encryption_by_default {
        sse_algorithm = "AES256"
      }
    }
  }
}

Code Security

Secret Management

  1. Use Secret Management Tools

    • HashiCorp Vault

    • AWS Secrets Manager

    • Azure Key Vault

    • Google Secret Manager

  2. Sensitive Data Handling

    variable "database_password" {
  type      = string
  sensitive = true
}

Module Security

  1. Module Source Control

    module "secure_vpc" {
  source = "git::https://github.com/example/terraform-modules.git//vpc?ref=v1.2.3"
}

  2. Version Pinning

    • Pin provider versions

    • Pin module versions

    • Use checksums for external modules

Compliance and Auditing

Compliance Controls

  1. Resource Tagging

    resource "aws_instance" "example" {
  tags = {
    Environment = var.environment
    Owner       = var.owner
    CostCenter  = var.cost_center
    Compliance  = var.compliance_level
  }
}

  2. Compliance Validation

    • Use terraform-compliance

    • Implement OPA/Conftest

    • Regular security scanning

Audit Logging

  1. Enable Provider Logging

    • AWS CloudTrail

    • Azure Activity Logs

    • GCP Audit Logs

  2. Infrastructure Changes Tracking

    • Use detailed commit messages

    • Implement change management

    • Track state changes

Security Testing

Automated Security Checks

  1. Static Analysis

    • tfsec

    • checkov

    • terrascan

  2. Dynamic Testing

    • Inspec

    • ServerSpec

    • Custom validation scripts

Incident Response

Security Incident Handling

  1. Preparation

    • Document emergency procedures

    • Maintain backup states

    • Keep destruction procedures ready

  2. Recovery

    • State recovery procedures

    • Infrastructure rebuild process

    • Secure state restoration

Security Checklist

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