According to the 2023 Thales Data Threat Report, 55% of organizations experiencing a data breach have reported “human error” as the primary cause. This is further compounded by organizations now facing attacks from increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals with a wide range of automated tools.
As organizations move more of their operations to the cloud, they must also become increasingly aware of the security risks and threats that come with it. It’s not enough anymore to simply have a set of policies that human operators must follow. Today more proactive and automated strategies must be implemented. This is where Infrastructure as Code (IaC) can play a pivotal role.
What is Infrastructure as Code (IaC)?
Infrastructure as Code is a key practice in the world of DevOps that involves managing and provisioning computer data centers through machine-readable definition files or scripts rather than relying on physical hardware configuration or interactive configuration tools. To put it simply, IaC is the process of managing your IT infrastructure — servers, networks and databases — using code, much like software.
Traditionally, setting up and managing IT infrastructures was a manual and complex process, often resulting in inconsistencies and inefficiencies due to human error. However, with IaC, this process is automated, streamlined and more reliable. An IaC model means that every aspect of your infrastructure is written in code and can be quickly, reliably and safely deployed and redeployed as needed.
