The Importance of Security in PaaS

Security is important in all facets of the tech industry. Pertinent examples would be Web development, low-level programming, mobile development, blockchain development, etc. With security being so important, we must ask ourselves. How are the fastest-growing tech niches handling their security? We will specifically look at Developer operations, aka: “DevOps,” and view the industry’s security trends. In this written piece, Let us take a peek at how PaaS products handle their users’ security.

SaaS? PaaS? The Cloud?

In order to fully grasp the topic at hand, let us first define the most important terms to be used continuously throw this piece.

What is SaaS?

SaaS is an abbreviation of Software-as-a-Service. “Saas is a software distribution model in which a cloud provider hosts applications and makes them available to end users over the internet. E.g: An independent software vendor (ISV) may contract a third-party cloud provider to host the application”. This is an effective description given by TechTarget.com. In simpler terms, Saas is when you, the end user, pay to rent software solutions.

What is PaaS?

PaaS is an abbreviation of Platform-as-a-Service. “Platform as a service (PaaS) is a complete development and deployment environment in the cloud, with resources that enable you to deliver everything from simple cloud-based apps to sophisticated, cloud-enabled enterprise applications.” This effective description was given by Microsoft. In Simpler terms, PaaS is a subset of SaaS but very specific to renting an online platform for development aid.

The Cloud?

By mentioning the cloud am sure it triggers a light-bulb moment within you. We have all heard of “the cloud” at this point. “The Cloud” can mean different things depending on the context it is used. In the workplace, “The Cloud” is the online database where everyone stores the document i.e: Google Drive. When you are talking about backing up your photos, “The Cloud” could mean iCloud, Apple’s storage service. There are other meanings for “The Cloud,” but let’s not dwell on them.

What does “The Cloud” mean exactly? “The cloud is made up of servers in data centers all over the world.” This was the definition given by Cloudflare.com. This is a funnily apt but brute definition. Let’s define it a bit more clearly together:

The cloud is an online network of connected databases and servers all over the world. So iCloud is a collection of servers and databases made for the purpose of safekeeping your information. Google Drive is also a cloud service similar to iCloud.

The reason the cloud is important for us here is that most, if not all, PaaS products are cloud-based. What does this mean? They are products orientated to handling server and database issues for developers on one platform. This is what makes them one-stop-go platform services. This being the case, we need to know, How do PaaS products implement security?

PaaS Security:

To explore the security that PaaS offers, let’s look at an industry giant in PaaS. Let’s look at Google Cloud and its Security!

You might be wondering, what is Google Cloud? What products does the platform offer? What does it even do? For the full, unfiltered description of Google Cloud and its services, you can find Google’s description here.

What is Google Cloud? Stephen J. Bigelow from Techtarget.com offers a more succinct explanation.

“Google Cloud is a suite of public cloud computing services offered by Google. The platform includes a range of hosted services for computing, storage, and application development that run on Google hardware. Google Cloud services can be accessed by software developers, cloud administrators, and other enterprise IT professionals.” This is not only an excellent and short explanation of Google Cloud but also of most PaaS services, i.e., Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, etc.

Google Cloud offers services such as:

• Google App Engine: This is a PaaS that gives software developers access to Google’s scalable hosting.
• Google Kubernetes Engine: A management and orchestration system for Docker container and the container clusters that run in tandem with Google’s other cloud services.
• Serverless Computing: Provides developers and IT professionals tools to handle event-based workload execution. i.e., Cloud Functions.

There are a few more services, but you get the idea. Now that we have established what Google Cloud is and the services they offer, let’s take the next step. In what ways do they actively secure themselves and protect their PaaS operations?

• All Data back and forth between the Google Cloud and the end users
• They offer virtual networking (Virtual Private Cloud), which enables inner cloud segmentation in public cloud spaces, which is an extra layer of security for developers.
• They require binary authorization if you want your Kubernetes (docker) container deployed on the Kubernetes engine.
• They have their own internal undisclosed IDS (Intrusion Detection System) active at all times.
• They have standard Anti-DDoS, anti-bot, and API protection.

That was a listing of the main security protection and protocols for the Google Cloud PaaS. This is surprising; it doesn’t seem like much, does it? On the surface, it seems the same as any other cloud platform or web-based software. This is because it is. In many ways, PaaS products and SaaS products are protected in much the same way as other web-based tech products.

Keeping security in mind, there is another PaaS product that has similar but also special security measures. We should keep this platform in mind as it adds a special level of security in the PaaS space. It is Aptible!

What is Aptible? Let’s answer this by reading how they define themselves: “Aptible is the No Infrastructure Platform as a Service that startups use to deploy in seconds, scale infinitely, and forget about infrastructure.” Essentially, you, as a developer, upload your code in a file, and Aptible takes care of all deployment and tech-related issues.

This is all well and good; now let’s look into Aptibles security. We are using them as an example because, unlike other typical PaaS, where you are on an online IDE or cloud interface and interacting with your code and deploying from there. With Aptible since you just upload a folder with your app in it. As a result, you don’t need:

• Wide-ranging API protection
• Private Cloud protection
• Binary authorization etc.

You get the idea. They don’t need a lot of the usual security protocols. So what protocols or functions do they use?

• Security compliance dashboard: A dashboard that provides continuous security monitoring of your app’s security status on all vulnerability levels of your app.
• All inner app APIs will be protected in their own private cloud network infrastructure.
• Automatic vulnerability management: You upload your app file, and they tell you all the places it is vulnerable and unsafe and fixes most of it for you. (that it’s allowed to).

This is all very interesting. This is because, by the nature of uploading your app as a folder, Aptibles security is wholly focused on securing the folder internally, as the external threats are already secured.

Interconnected Security in PaaS:

So, How important are security protocols in PaaS products? Very important. Whether you’re using a more mainstream PaaS like Google Cloud, they have different security protocols at every facet of their network. The same applies to Aptible. You are just uploading a folder, but there are still numerous security protocols and safety mechanisms for the end user. As the overall SaaS industry grows, both sub-industries of PaaS and IaaS grow too.

With this growth, it is always important to keep security in mind. The developer operations field is expanding, and as it expands, always ask yourself, what security mechanisms does this “xxx” product have? The answer will probably shock and interest you!