Setting up automation for security updates

In today's fast-paced digital world, maintaining the security of your software is crucial. One of the most effective ways to ensure that your applications are protected against vulnerabilities is through automatic security updates and diligent dependency management. Here’s why these practices are essential and how they can safeguard your software.

Automatic security updates are a vital mechanism that helps protect your software from known vulnerabilities without requiring manual intervention. One of my goals was to improve the speed of security fixes deliver by introducing automated way of applying security updates. Therefore, I created my own application that was tailored to the company's needs. This application automatically updates the vendor packages of various projects written in different programming languages.

To build the main application, I used GoLang. To get the list of vendors with vulnerabilities, I employed various tools such as composer, npm, and yarn. Additionally, I utilized the bitbucket API to facilitate the entire process of making changes. This process involved committing the changes, pushing them, creating a pull request, waiting for approvals, and finally merging the approved pull request into the production branch.

Automatic security updates, diligent dependency management, and comprehensive supply chain monitoring are essential practices for maintaining the security of your software. By implementing these strategies, you can significantly reduce the risk of security breaches, protect your users, and ensure the longevity and reliability of your applications.