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Automating security for Linux servers and applications

Feb

02

2023

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Lavanya Suvarna

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Innovation, speed, and scale are the fundamental building blocks for success in tech today. Automation solutions help businesses implement these core principles and enable them to fulfill rapidly evolving customer needs across different ecosystems.

In a Linux ecosystem, bash scripts consisting of a series of shell commands help automate repeated tasks. As a command language interpreter (CLI) tool, it is used in an array of applications in the Linux ecosystem. Combined with Cron Job scheduler, these scripts are often used in DevOps to build business workflows and processes.

You can now utilize these bash scripts to also integrate PKI-based security into your workflows and protect your servers and applications. Digital security ecosystems have evolved to ensure DevOps can leverage their existing knowledge to collaborate with the new tools and make implementing security a smooth, scalable process that matches their speed.

Until now, PKI expertise was a necessary prerequisite for successfully securing applications and servers, making developers wary of integrating security measures in their DevOps builds/processes. Today, it is possible to leverage out-of-the-box tools developed by PKI experts to implement security end-to-end to protect your business.

Entrust CA Gateway (CAGW) Command Line Interface (CLI) tool is one such tool that can be used to automate security for Linux servers and applications. It uses CAGW’s REST APIs to automate certificate and key generation, issuance, and lifecycle management to secure your endpoints at the time of deployment itself. Using this CLI tool it is possible to automate various complex cryptographic operations and integrate security into existing workflows and processes. It is an interactive tool that can be modified based on your requirements.

The CAGW CLI tool can automate the execution of these tasks:

  • Generating the Certificate Signing Request (CSR) with subject using OpenSSL
  • Listing various certificate authorities (CAs) in the system
  • Listing all profiles for a CA
  • Requesting and enrolling new certificates with CSR
  • Certificate revocation by serial number
  • Bulk certificate issuance

The technical documentation and the bash scripts for the CAGW CLI tool are available on this Entrust GitHub page.

A suite of Entrust PKI products can be leveraged in the DevOps environment to simplify the automation of security essentials. A DevSecOps approach is necessary to ensure your network, servers, and applications are secure at the time of deployment itself. With the threats and attacks modern businesses face, security cannot be an afterthought. And it is now possible to implement security in DevOps without sacrificing the pace of development.

Watch this video to see how you can work with the Entrust CA Gateway CLI Tool and integrate it with your existing workflows. Learn how to automate certificate and key requisition, issuance, and lifecycle management to secure your Linux servers and applications the instant they are deployed.

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Lavanya Suvarna
Product Marketing Specialist
Lavanya Suvarna is a Product Marketing Specialist at Entrust, the global leader in identities, payments, and digital infrastructure. Experienced in product marketing, branding, and management, she’s passionate about working on innovative concepts and new technologies that impact consumers across the globe.
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