Snyk bolsters developer security with fresh devsecop, cloud capabilities

Cybersecurity application provider Snyk has added fresh capabilities to its flagship developer security platform to improve programming productivity and help secure software supply chains.

The series of enhancements to Snyk’s namesake platform includes security support for C/C++ applications, new capabilities for infrastructure as code (IaC), automated security for  container supply chains, and new devsecops collaboration features.

Using an in-house built, AI-based engine, Snyk now scans C/C++ codes in development to identify all open source dependencies, associated vulnerabilities, and license compliance issues. The new capability offers features to help developers identify and fix issues as they code.

New support features include Snyk Learn lessons to help C/C++ developers fix manually copied code in applications. The aim is to help bolster security for desktop, server, and web application developers alike.

“C/C++ is still one of the top 10 programming languages in use today,” said Story Tweedie-Yates, head of product marketing at KSOC, a cybersecurity company that focuses on container infrastructure.  “In terms of new applications, it’s most dominant in the gaming industry (because it has great real-time performance) and in terms of older software it’s behind most major software applications like web browsers or Adobe. So, the addition of support for C/C++ apps is not insignificant.”

Languages currently supported by Snyk include Python, Java, JavaScript, Go, php, and .Net.

The Snyk update also includes integrations with new devsecops products from providers including AWS, ServiceNow, Jira and Dynatrace. Snyk has integrated with ServiceNow’s Vulnerability Response application and AWS CloudTrail Lake — both cloud workload visibility tools — to help bolster the security posture of  enterprise software supply chains.

Securing cloud apps with IaC

Snyk has also enhanced the Snyk IaC module of its platform with cloud-specific capabilities, which  automatically link cloud resources to an IaC source template — a code infrastructure blueprint. This will enable security teams to trace a particular cloud issue back to its source code and notify the right team to fix it.

While the new features are important for fixing misconfigurations at the IaC level,  they  still cannot serve as a replacement to cloud security posture management (CSPM) for cloud resources. While IaC can be thought of as an architectural blueprint, CSPM secures the actual building, Yates said.  

“With IaC, you make sure the blueprint all adds up to create a great plan. With CSPM, you are closing down windows that have been left open in the actual building that was built from that plan,” Tweedie-Yates added.

In the analogy, Snyk’s enhancement traces a window built with wrong shape in the actual building back to the exact place in the blueprint where the plan was laid out and fixes it there, Yates explained.

Snyk Container has also received an upgrade, offering enhanced support for “golden images,” which refer to standardized, preconfigured container bases used for the deployment of multiple instances of an application or service. Golden images are an important tool for managing container deployments, as they provide a consistent and repeatable deployment process that can be easily automated.

The extended support to these golden images has “quite a niche appeal” as the images take a lot of time, sometimes years, to develop and are only accomplished by the most mature devops organizations, according to Tweedie-Yates.

Snyk is priced in different tiers: a free plan unlocks a set number of security test types for IaC and open source dependencies, developer code, and containers; Team and Enterprise versions, which start at $52 per user, have unlimited test capabilities for different code types and open source dependencies; and a custom, pay-as-you-go level is aimed at companies with developers who want to access different modules.