N.6.07 Separation of development, test, acceptance and production
Control Overview
This control mandates that organizations developing or managing software platforms enforce strict logical, technical, and operational isolation between Development, Testing, Acceptance, and Production (DTAP) environments. This environmental segregation prevents development activities, functional tests, or unreviewed code changes from causing service disruptions, data corruption, or unauthorized modifications in the live production tier. It requires independent access control frameworks for each environment and strictly prohibits the use of live production data within non-production testing zones.
Applicability Note: This control is fully applicable to the anDREa platform and represents a fundamental tenant of our cloud security architecture, directly mitigating the risk of human error or insider threat.
Compliance & Strategic Approach
Our approach satisfying this NIS 2 requirement operates within our ISO/IEC 27001-based ISMS, relying on automated software-defined policies rather than manual operational discipline.
anDREa enforces absolute separation across the entire DTAP lifecycle. Each tier is deployed into a distinct, logically isolated Microsoft Azure subscription or virtual network perimeter with its own unique identity permissions managed via Microsoft Entra ID.
Our engineering framework enforces this segregation through strict boundaries:
- Pipeline-Driven Deployment: Code transitions linearly through the DTAP chain exclusively via automated CI/CD pipelines. Direct manual modifications or "hot-patching" of infrastructure components are blocked by default.
- No Direct Production Access: Internal developers and QA testers possess no default administrative or write permissions within the live production platform. The only operational exception is when a developer is specifically invited into a localized research Workspace by an external, authorized Workspace Accountable for targeted troubleshooting.
- Absolute Data Agnosticism: Real production datasets, customer analytical files, or live database instances are never replicated down to lower environments. All functional validation, feature testing, and support workflows utilize synthetic, mock, or anonymized data structures.
Control Mappings & Evidence
| Framework / Document Reference | Element & Identifier | Description / Relationship to NIS 2 |
|---|---|---|
| ISO/IEC 27001 | A.08.31 - Separation of development, test and production environments | Mandates that development, testing, and operational environments are separated and secured to protect live production systems. |
| ISO/IEC 27001 | A.08.25 - Secure development life cycle | Governs the quality and security gates code increments must satisfy prior to advancing through environmental perimeters. |
| ISO/IEC 27001 | A.08.32 - Change management | Defines the formal authorization workflows and release-gate requirements needed to promote configurations to production. |
| IAM Configurations | Entra ID Environmental RBAC Manifests | Technical identity policies demonstrating that user permissions for Test/Acceptance environments do not inherit or contain active Production credentials. |
| Infrastructure Architecture | Azure Subscription Network Schemas | Cloud architecture diagrams proving complete logical and physical network-level isolation between separate tenant and hosting planes. |
| Pipeline Governance | CI/CD "Release Gate" Configuration Logs | System logs verifying the presence of mandatory approval steps, compliance checks, and quality thresholds required before production promotion. |
Audit Summary
- Compliance Status: Fully Compliant
- Gaps Identified: None. Multi-subscription cloud isolation, automated linear pipeline routing, data-agnostic testing, and complete restriction of direct administrative access over live production are fully operationalized and validated.