Venafi Debuts Next-Gen Code Signing

Machine Identity Protection Solution Secures Code Signing Across Organizations and Guards Against Unauthorized Use

Venafi, the inventor and leading provider of machine identity protection, announced the debut of Next-Gen Code Signing, a machine identity protection solution that secures code signing processes by delivering enterprise wide visibility into all code signing operations. Next-Gen Code Signing provides centralized private key storage, code signing policy enforcement, and automation while reducing code signing burden on software development teams.

“Today, every organization is a software developer building apps, libraries, containers and other tools”

For decades, code signing has been used to verify the integrity of software, and nearly every organization relies on it to confirm their code has not been corrupted with malware. Despite this, modern organizations often struggle to secure and protect code signing operations because they don’t have a solution that allows them to consistently enforce policies across locations, tools and processes without slowing down development teams.

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“Today, every organization is a software developer building apps, libraries, containers and other tools,” said Kevin Bocek, vice president of security strategy and threat intelligence for Venafi. “However, it can be very difficult to scale code signing operations. The security procedures that protect code signing are typically seen as cumbersome, and developers often ignore them. Unfortunately, this leaves security teams in the dark and it’s very advantageous for bad actors. Stolen code signing keys are powerful cyber weapons that put companies and their customers at risk. From Stuxnet to everyday malware and phishing campaigns, attacks that leverage code signing evade next-generation AV detection.”

In addition to securing enterprise code signing processes, Next-Gen Code Signing automates the management of all code signing private keys. Private code signing keys never leave the trusted Venafi storage platform or connected hardware security modules (HSMs). This new solution provides information security teams with comprehensive visibility and detailed intelligence about all aspects of code signing operations, including who signed the code and with which certificate, as well as who approved the request and when each action occurred. Using the intelligence gathered from code signing processes, Next-Gen Code Signing delivers compliance and audit reporting across all code signing activities.

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Key benefits of Next-Gen Code Signing include:

• Scalability that can support a few developers in one location to tens of thousands of developers distributed globally, and millions of code signing operations a week.
• Automation and support for a broad range of software development processes; development teams do not need to change tools.
• A central, permanent storage location for private keys so they remain protected.
• Flexible, customizable policy enforcement that supports the needs of multiple software projects, including the approval of workflows, certificate types, certificate authorities, HSMs and software development tool sets.
• Allows security teams to provide a code signing service that enforces policies and is transparent to developers.

Bocek concludes: “Next-Gen Code Signing lets software developers use the same code signing tools and does not require changes to their build environments. It provides an invisible layer of technology that keeps code signing keys safe and out of the hands of attackers. Venafi Next-Gen Code Signing gives security teams and developers an exciting way to be both fast and safe.”

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