Kong announced the launch of the latest version of Kong AI Gateway, which introduces new features to provide the AI security and governance guardrails needed to make GenAI and Agentic AI production-ready.
The previous blog in this WhiteHat Security series highlighted the individual build, release and run stages within the app-building process, and the appropriate security posture to incorporate within each of these phases.
Start with Security and the Twelve-Factor App - Step 1
Start with Security and the Twelve-Factor App - Step 2
Start with Security and the Twelve-Factor App - Step 3
Start with Security and the Twelve-Factor App - Step 4
Start with Security and the Twelve-Factor App - Step 5
Step 6 of the Twelve-Factor App methodology encourages executing the app as one or more stateless processes. Here is some actionable security-focused advice which developers and ops engineers can follow during the SaaS build and operations stages.
Defining Processes in the Twelve-Factor App
In this sixth step, the Twelve-Factor methodology encourages executing the app as one or more stateless processes by using small programs that communicate over the network. In other words Twelve-factor processes are stateless and contained in a shared-nothing (SN) architecture, a distributed-computing architecture in which each node is independent and self-sufficient, and there is no single point of contention across the system. More specifically, none of the nodes share memory or disk storage. The benefits of SN architecture include eliminating any single point of failure, allowing self-healing capabilities. and providing an advantage in offering non-disruptive upgrade.
Many organizations are undertaking a “re-platforming” journey, in which the overarching platform is broken up into smaller programs that are more service focused, enabling changes to be made more quickly.
Applying Security to Step 6
Unfortunately, a major security drawback of this journey is that when you start to break up a big building block into smaller pieces, the attack surface increases. This means there are more places where requests can be sent to your infrastructure, which equates to more opportunities to send an attack. Assumptions about how code would be invoked by their callers will change when migrating to service oriented architectures, and some of those changes impact security. By way of example, consider the WhiteHat Security 2018 Stats Report. This report compared vulnerability related security metrics between monolith and microservices architectures and found that for every 100KLOC, monolith applications had 39 vulnerabilities whereas microservices had 180 vulnerabilities. Be mindful of legacy code that is being exposed over the network as you break up your app into services, as such code may have been written without security in mind.
Read Security and the Twelve-Factor App - Step 7, which focuses on exporting services via port binding, and what to apply from a security point of view.
Industry News
Traefik Labs announced significant enhancements to its AI Gateway platform along with new developer tools designed to streamline enterprise AI adoption and API development.
Zencoder released its next-generation AI coding and unit testing agents, designed to accelerate software development for professional engineers.
Windsurf (formerly Codeium) and Netlify announced a new technology partnership that brings seamless, one-click deployment directly into the developer's integrated development environment (IDE.)
The Cloud Native Computing Foundation® (CNCF®), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, is making significant updates to its certification offerings.
The Cloud Native Computing Foundation® (CNCF®), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, announced the Golden Kubestronaut program, a distinguished recognition for professionals who have demonstrated the highest level of expertise in Kubernetes, cloud native technologies, and Linux administration.
Red Hat announced new capabilities and enhancements for Red Hat Developer Hub, Red Hat’s enterprise-grade internal developer portal based on the Backstage project.
Platform9 announced that Private Cloud Director Community Edition is generally available.
Sonatype expanded support for software development in Rust via the Cargo registry to the entire Sonatype product suite.
CloudBolt Software announced its acquisition of StormForge, a provider of machine learning-powered Kubernetes resource optimization.
Mirantis announced the k0rdent Application Catalog – with 19 validated infrastructure and software integrations that empower platform engineers to accelerate the delivery of cloud-native and AI workloads wherever the\y need to be deployed.
Traefik Labs announced its Kubernetes-native API Management product suite is now available on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace.
webAI and MacStadium(link is external) announced a strategic partnership that will revolutionize the deployment of large-scale artificial intelligence models using Apple's cutting-edge silicon technology.
Development work on the Linux kernel — the core software that underpins the open source Linux operating system — has a new infrastructure partner in Akamai. The company's cloud computing service and content delivery network (CDN) will support kernel.org, the main distribution system for Linux kernel source code and the primary coordination vehicle for its global developer network.