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KICS: Secure Your Infrastructure Code Before Deployment

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Infrastructure security isn’t what it used to be. Not even close. As companies rush to embrace infrastructure-as-code (IaC) practices, the entire security landscape has dramatically shifted left — way left — in the development cycle.Those bygone days of tacking security on as an afterthought?Ancient history.

Today’s DevOps teams are scrambling for tools that can spot vulnerabilities, compliance gaps, and misconfigurations before a single line of code hits production.

And honestly?

They should be.

Anyway, Indeed.

Why Early Detection Matters

Picture this: Your development team deploys an AWS S3 bucket using Terraform. No security scan. And After that thing you know — bam! — sensitive data exposed to the entire internet. (Yeah, it happens more than you’d think.) This exact scenario is why KICS (Keeping Infrastructure as Code Secure) has become such a game-changer.

Here’s a sobering stat: catching security vulnerabilities during IaC development can slash remediation costs by up to 100x compared to fixing the same issues in production. Let that sink in.

Understanding KICS by Checkmarx

KICS isn’t just another security scanner — it’s an open-source powerhouse specifically built for INFRASTRUCTURE code. It plays nice with pretty much everything:

  • Terraform
  • Kubernetes
  • Docker
  • AWS CloudFormation
  • Azure Resource Manager

Getting Started with KICS

Want to take KICS. for a spin? Here’s the bare-bones version:


# Pull the KICS Docker image
docker pull checkmarx/kics:latest

# Scan your IaC directory
docker run -v {path_to_your_code}:/path checkmarx/kics:latest scan -p "/path" -o "/path/results"

Real-World Implementation Strategies

Let’s get practical. Here’s how rather byzantine you’d weave KICS into your CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions:


name: KICS Security Scan

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  security-scan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - name: Run KICS Scan
      uses: checkmarx/kics-action@v1.0
      with:
        path: '.'
        output_path: 'results'
        platform_type: 'terraform'
        fail_on: high

Advanced Features and Best Practices

Here’s where things get interesting.

KICS lets teams craft custom security queries using Rego — the Open Policy Agent query language.

Want to enforce specific security standards?

This is your ticket:


package Cx

CxPolicy[result] {
    resource := input.document[i].resource.aws_s3_bucket[name]
    resource.acl == "public-read"

    result := {
        "documentId": input.document[i].id,
        "searchKey": sprintf("aws_s3_bucket[%s].acl", [name]),
        "issueType": "IncorrectValue",
        "keyExpectedValue": "S3 bucket should not be publicly readable",
        "keyActualValue": "S3 bucket is publicly readable"
    }
}

Maximizing Security Coverage

Want bulletproof security scanning? Do these things:

  • Implement pre-commit hooks — catch issues before they hit your repo
  • Configure severity thresholds — tailor them to your environment
  • Integrate with existing security tools — because more coverage is better coverage
  • Regular updates — security definitions get stale fast

Common Pitfalls and Solutions

Look, nobody’s perfect. Here are the gotchas teams usually hit with KICS:

  • False positives in custom environments — Fix it by tweaking those query parameters
  • Performance impact in large codebases — Smart targeting is your friend
  • Integration with legacy systems — Leverage KICS’s broad platform support

Looking Ahead: The Future of IaC Security

Infrastructure-as-code isn’t standing still, and neither is KICS. With over 2,200 GitHub stars and counting, plus regular updates from a thriving community, it’s clearly here — for the long haul Can you believe it?

Keep an eye on the official KICS repository for updates. Better yet, jump in and contribute — this is open source, after all. Remember: securing your infrastructure-as-code isn’t a one-and-done deal. But with KICS? At least you’re starting from solid ground.

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