terraform-compliance
A lightweight, security-focused test framework that ensures infrastructure-as-code (IaC) configurations adhere to predefined policies before deployment.
| Category | Compliance & Governance |
|---|---|
| Last Commit | 1 year ago |
| This page updated | a month ago |
| Pricing Details | Free and open-source. |
| Target Audience | Developers and security teams managing infrastructure-as-code. |
terraform-compliance addresses the critical security and compliance challenge of ensuring that infrastructure-as-code (IaC) configurations adhere to predefined policies before deployment. This tool provides a lightweight, security-focused test framework that integrates with Terraform.
The technical architecture of terraform-compliance is built around Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) principles, allowing developers and security teams to define policies in a readable and understandable format. Policies are translated into BDD features and scenarios, which are then executed against the Terraform plan. For example, a policy requiring S3 buckets to have server-side encryption configured would be defined as a scenario that checks for the presence of server_side_encryption_configuration in the Terraform code.
Operationally, terraform-compliance is designed to be provider-agnostic, working with any Terraform provider, and can be easily integrated into CI/CD pipelines or Git hooks to ensure all deployments are validated. It supports Terraform versions 0.12 and later, and its tests can be stored in a separate repository, enabling segregation of duties where a different team can manage the compliance tests.
Key operational considerations include the need for regular updates to the policy definitions to keep them aligned with evolving security standards and the potential for increased complexity in managing a large number of BDD scenarios. However, the tool's portability, allowing installation via pip or execution via Docker, simplifies its deployment and use.
From a technical standpoint, terraform-compliance leverages the radish framework to run tests against Terraform files, ensuring that all infrastructure resources comply with defined policies before they are deployed. This approach ensures real-time validation, preventing non-compliant configurations from reaching production environments. While it does not handle historical analysis or complex query performance, its focus on pre-deployment validation makes it an effective tool for maintaining security and compliance in IaC workflows.