If you’re using a container in your cloud environment, you’re not alone. Gartner predicts that “90% of global organizations will be running containerized applications in production by 2026.” And with the increase in container usage comes a concern of growing security threats targeting container services. Threat vectors aimed at services like Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS surely will increase as more businesses adopt containers or expand their existing container networks, creating a real need for container security.
New to containers and wondering what container security is? This blog provides insights into the methods used to safeguard containers.
What Are Containers?
Containers are often compared to virtual machines because they enable users to create virtual platforms. But unlike virtual machines, they aren’t meant to emulate a physical computer. Instead, each one virtualizes everything needed to run an application.
Rather than virtualizing an entire computer, containers package code, dependencies, an abstract operating system, and anything else needed to run desired applications virtually anywhere.
There are numerous benefits of containers, especially when compared to virtual machines. They’re lightweight, more agile, and require fewer resources. They also give an added layer of security over virtual machines because they isolate applications.
Additionally, containers provide greater portability and reduce downtimes during continuous operations, making them an attractive choice for DevOps teams. But getting the most out of containers requires an effective security strategy; otherwise, you could be leaving your network wide open to cyberattacks.
[Related Reading: AWS Fargate Security Best Practices]
How Does Container Security Work?
Container security is the process of using security tools to ensure your containers are working as intended. Without effective security protecting your containers, you could fall victim to several threats, such as:
- Access control exploits
- Container privilege escalations
- Malware spreading across multiple containers over a network
Another thing to know — malicious agents have been exploiting container image vulnerabilities to mine cryptocurrency using companies’ cloud resources.
Container security platforms all have one goal in mind –– to prevent malicious activities within your container environment. Effective cloud security solutions draw upon a wide range of features when protecting containers from malicious agents. Common features include:
Image scanning
Images are scanned for vulnerabilities before launching the container; additional scans are run once new software has been introduced. This feature is important for identifying potential threats that arise as you continue to develop containers and containerized applications.
A strong access control strategy
Users only should be given enough access privilege needed to complete their tasks, and those accesses should be routinely audited.
Process monitoring
Detecting malicious or invalid processes, such as those coming from modified binaries, processes used for lateral movement, and cryptocurrency miners.
Log collection
Monitoring log files generated by deployed containers for irregularities and malicious activity.
The features above are common with many security platforms on the market. They allow cybersecurity teams to gain visibility into containers, helping them better understand what’s happening within containerized applications. This makes it easier to identify and stop threats quicker, before they can wreak havoc.
How Alert Logic Approaches Container Security
In developing our security strategy for containers, we ensured our service did not clash with other platforms, but rather, complements them. Our container security solution focuses on another important area that is overlooked by other security services –– container traffic.
Our service was the first introduced that analyzes traffic inside a container. Not only does this help security teams find and eliminate container threats in real-time, but it also gives a better level of visibility than other container security services.
Best of all, organizations can combine our platform with other container security solutions to achieve a complete picture of your security strategy, helping to minimize risks and correct vulnerabilities before they turn into incidents.
Interested in learning more? Schedule a demo today!
Additional Resources:
Secrets to a Stronger Strategy for Container Security
4 Key Considerations for AWS Container Security
