What are IaC tools?
Infrastructure as code (IaC) tools automate setting up, changing, and versioning infrastructure.
When teams use IaC tools for automation, they increase their efficiency and reduce errors compared to traditional manual processes. Automation removes developers’ need to manually configure an environment, which reduces the risk of human error and establishes a consistent and repeatable process.
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The fundamental role of IaC tools
IaC tools replace manual infrastructure setup and configuration with machine-readable definition files. This allows teams to manage infrastructure in a consistent, version-controlled way, similar to how they manage application code.
Treating infrastructure definitions as code helps organizations apply the same rigor, testing, and governance to infrastructure changes that they already use for software development.
IaC tools can be either cloud service provider (CSP)-neutral or CSP-specific, and they often serve as foundational components of a modern cloud security stack.
The benefits of choosing IaC tools
Teams adopt IaC tools to make infrastructure management more consistent, repeatable, and scalable. Centralizing infrastructure definitions ensures that all environments originate from the same codebase, minimizing configuration drift and improving reliability for disaster recovery or scaling.
By automating repetitive tasks, IaC tools help development and operations teams focus on higher-value activities such as optimizing performance or enhancing application functionality.
IaC also supports collaboration across teams by aligning infrastructure and application lifecycles. Shared definitions foster transparency and enable development, operations, and security teams to work from a common source of truth.
CSP-neutral IaC tools for cloud environments
Cloud service provider (CSP)-neutral IaC tools are valued for their versatility and ability to support multiple environments. These tools can help teams standardize infrastructure definitions across different platforms.
Below are commonly used CSP-neutral IaC tools, organized by their primary capabilities. Tools are listed in no particular order.
Configuration management tools
Configuration management tools focus on automation and maintenance for software configurations and system states.
1. Chef
Chef is a robust IaC tool that describes system configuration using a pure Ruby domain-specific language (DSL). It comes with an extensive library of modules, known as cookbooks, that can automate system configuration.
This tool supports multiple platforms, which makes it versatile for diverse environments. It also encourages a test-driven development approach, which can help you create a reliable and stable infrastructure. Chef is well-suited to organizations with complex systems and diverse configurations, especially if the team has a strong Ruby skillset.
Highlights:
Automations: DevOps teams can automate and test code instead of manually writing it.
Integrations with other tools: Chef can integrate with cloud platforms like AWS, VMware, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
2. Puppet
Puppet uses declarative language to describe system configuration. The tool also offers robust reporting and auditing tools, which allow you to track changes and maintain compliance for large-scale deployments.
This tool is an excellent choice for large enterprises with multiple administrators and teams since it can help them mandate strict control over configurations.
Highlights:
Extensive support: Puppet is a mature tool with ample community support for advice and troubleshooting.
Effective dashboard: Users say that the configurable dashboard makes it easy to organize priorities and views and fully understand their infrastructure.
3. Ansible
Ansible is a simple yet powerful tool for configuration management and application deployment. It's agentless, meaning it uses Secure Shell instead of requiring a special agent on the target nodes, which can simplify setup and management.
Highlights:
Straightforward use: Ansible uses a simple YAML syntax, which makes it easy to read and write, even for those who are new to IaC. It also offers many modules and is ideal for orchestrating complex tasks.
Best for medium teams: Ansible is a great fit for small to medium businesses that need a lightweight but powerful tool. It’s also good for DevOps teams that handle application deployment alongside configuration management.
4. Salt
Salt, also known as SaltStack or Salt Project, is a Python-based open-source configuration management software and remote execution engine. It supports the IaC approach to deployment and cloud management and competes primarily with Puppet, Chef, and Ansible.
Highlights:
Centralized, scalable control: Salt uses a master-minion model. A central master issues commands to the minions, who then execute them.
Customer support: Users report helpful support from the tool when they have questions or troubleshooting needs.
Server templating tools
Server templating tools help you create and manage reusable templates to establish and define server configurations.
5. Vagrant
Vagrant is an open source software product for building and maintaining portable virtual software development environments. It's not traditionally an IaC tool, but it allows you to script a development environment’s setup. This can be useful for maintaining consistency between development environments or between development and production.
Highlights:
Multiple options: Vagrant offers community boxes and plug-ins. Since the tool is decentralized, you can adapt it to any system.
Helpful resources: The tool provides a considerable catalog of documentation to support your team.
6. Docker
Docker is a platform that uses OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers. Containers operate in isolation by separately bundling software, libraries, and configuration files while communicating only through well-defined channels.
While Docker is not an IaC tool, developers often include it in their security stack to manage container deployment and operation.
Highlights:
Easy management: Since you’re working with software within containers, managing applications with defined processes and oversight becomes easier. Because of this, users can more easily scale with Docker.
Effective for microservices: Users report that Docker is great for microservice solutions and deployments. Additionally, CI/CD platforms can support it.
7. Packer
Packer is an open source tool for creating identical machine images for multiple platforms from a single source configuration. Like Vagrant, it's not commonly viewed as an IaC tool, but it's often integrates with IaC tools as part of a CI/CD pipeline.
Highlights:
Flexibility: Packer is open source, so your team can adapt and customize the tool to their specific needs.
Multi-cloud portability: Teams can easily create images for top cloud providers like AWS and Azure with a configuration file. Because of this and similar features, users report that infrastructure deployment tends to be faster with Packer than with other tools.
Provisioning tools
Provisioning tools automate solutions to enable setup, management, and configurations for cloud infrastructure.
8. Terraform
Terraform by HashiCorp is a widely used IaC tool for implementing best practices concerning building, changing, and re-visioning infrastructure. It supports multiple cloud providers, making it a versatile choice for businesses that operate in multi-cloud environments.
This solution helps companies that are seeking to manage multi-cloud deployments and complex dependencies or those that wish to adopt a “single pane of glass” for all infrastructure.
Highlights:
Simplified approach: Terraform uses declarative language, which means you can describe your desired state and Terraform will figure out how to achieve it. This approach simplifies the process of managing complex or large-scale infrastructure.
Efficiency and ease of use: This tool also offers state management capabilities and modules for code reuse.
9. Pulumi
Pulumi is a modern IaC tool that lets you use general-purpose programming languages like Python, Go, TypeScript, and C# to define and manage your infrastructure. This can make the tool more accessible to developers and allow for more complex logic within your infrastructure code.
Pulumi supports multiple cloud providers and even allows you to mix resources from different providers in the same program. This makes it a good choice for multi-cloud deployments or for deploying resources that interact with each other across cloud boundaries.
10. Gyro
Gyro is a multi-cloud IaC tool for creating, updating, and maintaining infrastructure. It defines resources using a DSL and supports several cloud platforms, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Highlights:
Extensibility: Gyro allows you to write your resource definitions and manage nearly any cloud resource.
Simplified language: You can use the Gyro’s language for easy commands and definitions.
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CSP-specific IaC tools for your cloud security
CSP-neutral tools are great to support multiple platforms; CSP-specific IaC tools are designed to integrate closely with their respective cloud ecosystems. These tools enable consistent management and provisioning of resources within a single cloud provider’s environment.
| Tool | Best for |
|---|---|
| Amazon Web Services (AWS) CloudFormation | AWS users |
| Azure Resource Manager | Microsoft Azure users |
| Google Cloud Deployment Manager | Google Cloud users |
Below are the leading CSP-specific IaC tools:
1. Best for AWS users: AWS CloudFormation
AWS CloudFormation is Amazon’s IaC service that manages and provisions AWS resources. It offers deep integration with AWS services, allowing you to automate your AWS infrastructure setup and any updates.
CloudFormation uses JSON or YAML templates to describe the desired state of AWS resources, which makes defining and managing complex environments easier.
Highlights:
Manage and update more easily: CloudFormation employs a stack-based management approach, which groups related resources together. This allows teams to more easily manage and update resources as a unit.
Take advantage of the native experience: CloudFormation is a reasonable solution if you already use the AWS stack.
2. Best for Microsoft Azure users: Azure Resource Manager
Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is Microsoft Azure’s IaC tool. Like CloudFormation, it offers deep integration with Azure services so you can manage your Azure resources efficiently.
ARM uses JSON templates to define the desired state of Azure resources.
Highlights:
Clear responsibilities: ARM supports role-based access controls, which provide precise control over who can do what with which resources. This enhances security and governance.
Native experience: Organizations that have already invested in Microsoft and Azure can quickly adopt this solution.
3. Best for Google Cloud users: Google Cloud Deployment Manager
Google Cloud Deployment Manager is Google’s IaC for automating infrastructure on the GCP. It offers deep integration and allows you to manage your GCP resources declaratively.
Highlights:
Flexibility: The Deployment Manager uses YAML or Python/Jinja2 templates to define GCP resources’ desired state. This flexibility lets you choose the language that best suits your team’s skills and preferences.
Native experience: Google Cloud Deployment Manager is an excellent choice for businesses that primarily use Google Cloud and require declarative management of GCP resources.
The security implications of IaC misconfigurations
As organizations adopt infrastructure as code (IaC) to manage infrastructure, it’s important to ensure that automation also incorporates strong security validation. Misconfigurations or exposed secrets within IaC templates can introduce vulnerabilities or allow unintended access to systems.
Common risks include:
Network exposure: Misconfigured templates can inadvertently create open access paths, such as permissive firewall rules or overly broad permissions. These issues can allow unintended connectivity to internal systems or data.
Exposed secrets: Credentials, API keys, or tokens included in IaC templates require secure handling. If not properly protected, they may be discovered and misused.
Compliance drift: Templates that don’t align with standards such as GDPR or HIPAA can result in gaps in required controls.
Privilege escalation: Overly permissive IAM policies or configuration errors can allow users or processes to access sensitive environments beyond their intended scope.
Weak version control: Without versioning and change tracking, identifying or reverting insecure configurations becomes more difficult.
Teams can reduce these risks by embedding automated scans, policy checks, and reviews directly into the CI/CD pipeline. This proactive approach helps detect misconfigurations early and strengthens the overall security of code-defined infrastructure.
Strategies to mitigate IaC misconfigurations
Teams can reduce IaC misconfigurations by taking a proactive approach that embeds security and validation into every stage of development. The following practices support a stronger IaC security posture:
Establish strong IAM policies: Apply principles such as multi-factor authentication and least privilege to restrict access and minimize the potential for unauthorized changes.
Conduct regular audits and testing: Schedule periodic configuration reviews, audits, and penetration tests to identify vulnerabilities and validate security controls.
Automate checks: Use automated scanning tools to identify misconfigurations, exposed secrets, and compliance drift in IaC templates. Automated validation helps reduce manual error and maintain consistency.
Unify visibility across tools: Integrating IaC scanning with broader cloud-security monitoring enables teams to connect configuration data with runtime and identity context, supporting faster and more accurate risk assessment.
Wiz believes IaC scanning becomes most effective when combined with broader visibility into cloud workloads, entitlements, and data. Wiz integrates with IaC frameworks and open-source scanners to correlate findings, prioritize risks, and help teams address issues before deployment.
By combining the strengths of open-source IaC tools with the unified visibility of Wiz’s cloud platform, organizations can take a shift-left approach to security—catching misconfigurations early and maintaining a consistent, collaborative DevSecOps workflow.
Reduce and eliminate risks with Wiz’s IaC scanning
Infrastructure as code (IaC) tools provide consistency and scalability for modern cloud environments—but security insights are often focused on configuration correctness. Wiz’s approach is to add a security lens to IaC scanning helps teams understand not just whether templates are valid, but whether they introduce real risk once deployed in the cloud.
Wiz connects IaC scanning with live cloud context—linking code-defined resources to runtime environments, entitlements, and data exposure. This correlation enables teams to see how a single misconfiguration or exposed secret in code could translate to an exploitable pathway in production.
By unifying IaC scanning with workload, identity, and data security, Wiz helps organizations continuously validate that what’s defined in code remains secure in practice. For example, Wiz’s Golden VM Image Pipeline extends this approach by validating base images before deployment, ensuring consistent security baselines across development and runtime.
Together, IaC tools and Wiz’s unified platform enable a more complete picture of cloud risk—from definition to deployment—helping teams build confidently and securely in the cloud.
Catch code risks before you deploy
Learn how Wiz Code scans IaC, containers, and pipelines to stop misconfigurations and vulnerabilities before they hit your cloud.
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