How Encryption Consulting aided a Tech Firm with CodeSign Secure in their growth

Company Overview

With its innovative software for programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and automation solutions, this company is one of the market’s best providers of industrial automation solutions. The company has established quite an impressive regional presence offering solutions for automating processes even in the most complicated industrial settings.

As a leading technology company, the following priorities- software authenticity, validation, and data integrity became central to its operations. The organization encountered challenges with implementing code signing within its Azure DevOps pipeline, which caused delays and negatively affected the ability to sustain development efficiency. This organization also faced the challenge of long application loading time with AppLocker in place.

Challenges

This organization encountered numerous challenges while attempting to optimize processes and maintain strong security across the tech industry. This company faced challenges in a number of areas, ranging from controlling intricate operations to dealing with the shortcomings of its CI/CD pipeline.

• Code Signing in CI/CD Pipeline: Code signing employs certificates and encryption to prove the code’s authenticity and that no one has altered it, and not having this kind of integration slowed down their processes due to manual checks and hampered their operational agility. They struggled with inefficient software deployment due to the lack of code signing in their CI/CD pipeline.
• Security Vulnerabilities: The absence of code signing exposed the organization to significant cyber threats, including code tampering and malicious code injection. These vulnerabilities not only compromised user applications but also posed risks to the entire software infrastructure, severely impacting the organization’s security posture.
• Delayed Application Launch Time with AppLocker:  The organization’s delayed application launch times frustrated their customers, especially during critical tasks. This dissatisfaction not only impacted user experience but also disrupted workflows, reduced overall productivity, and negatively affected the whole organization.
• Compliance Breach: The organization faced major compliance challenges, undermining essential security and regulatory requirements. This led to the installation of unauthenticated or harmful software in their systems. The integrity and authenticity of the softwares deployed by them were questioned. This non-compliance with frameworks like HIPAA, GDPR, and other standards jeopardized the organization’s data security, and it became essential to secure data safeguards.

Solution

The organization received assistance from Encryption Consulting in developing an industry-compliant yet best-practice solution to their problem. Focusing on their core problems, namely security threats, regulatory constraints, and efficiency issues, we successfully integrated our high-end code signing solution, CodeSign Secure, into their coding infrastructure quickly.

• Seamless integration of CodeSign Secure with their Azure DevOps pipeline made the entire process of code signing quite quick and easy. During the CI/CD process, it also allowed them to automate signing of files, including file formats such as PDF, XML, MS Authenticode, and Java. Now, every time the code is pushed through their pipeline, CodeSign Secure applies a digital signature and ensures the authenticity and integrity of their code before deployment, all without manual intervention.  
• An HSM was also provided to the organization, which guaranteed secure storage and access to the private keys associated with their code signing certificates. This type of access control was implemented so that no one can access their sensitive keys without permission. In this manner, the organization could guard against the possible leakage or breach of the private keys used for signing their code by introducing a middle layer into the process.  
• The organization was equipped with Comprehensive Signed Audit Trails using CodeSign Secure in order to promote transparency and assurance in the utilization of code signing. All transactions and signing operations were accurately recorded in CodeSign Secure’s logs, allowing for audit-proof and tamper-free documentation.  
• Additionally, we cut down their time to open applications with AppLocker from 2 minutes and 30 seconds to 30 seconds only, as they were previously using multiple certificates and hashes for their rules in AppLocker. Now they can use one rule where the application being opened must be signed by CodeSign Secure.  
• The company fortified their code signing security by deploying different access methods, which include P12 certificates, user permissions, and applications that specify which certificates can be used in which environments. This enabled flexible and safe access controls, thereby allowing only authorized users and systems to interact with their code signing process.  
• The digital signatures created by CodeSign Secure were protected with secure timestamps, which has made it possible for them to achieve Timestamp Security and meet the CA/Browser Forum compliance in accordance with the stipulations of RFC 3161 and Authenticode. In addition, with FIPS 140-2 Level 3 HSM compliance, they met the CA/Browser Forum June 2023 requirement and improved security, integrity, and compliance in their code signing processes.

Impact

The organization received several core benefits after CodeSign Secure was integrated into the organization. The first one is automating the code signing process through their Azure DevOps pipeline since this not only simplified their working processes but also reduced manual work. This improved the operational capacity of the organization as it was able to enhance the delivery of its software within a short period of time and in a more effective manner.

Introducing an HSM to protect their valuable private keys enhanced the organization’s security and reduced unauthorized access to these keys. The integration also considered the organization’s policies and legal requirements, therefore, the organization was able to comply with the required market and policy standards with ease.

Such improvements helped them to win users’ trust and improve the company’s standing in the market. Now, most customers are comfortable using this organization’s software because it has a very secure code signing process where the end-user can be assured that the entire code creation process is done securely. It further projects security and data protection as the organization’s core values. This, in turn, has enhanced the efficiency of the operational performance and sustained growth and loyalty of the consumers.

Conclusion

In short, CodeSign Secure is an application that any organization that desires to go through its code signing process quickly and efficiently without compromising on security and compliance standards should have. Problems related to manual code signing processes, ensuring security of keys from unauthorized access, and complying with relevant regulations are resolved effectively with CodeSign Secure. Major security issues are minimized, and operational expenses are reduced.

Most significantly, regulatory requirements are met by automating the signing, protecting private keys by using HSMs, and ensuring auditable logs of each and every stage of signing are kept. This means that the organization’s data is secured, and users are more comfortable with the usage of the application.