Take a proactive security approach to your containerized applications

With Gartner estimating that by 2026, 90% of global organizations will be running containerized applications in production[1], containerized applications are quickly surpassing traditional software development and deployment as the core component of today’s dynamic technological framework. However, as containers become more widely used, security concerns continue to increase. To guarantee the confidentiality, integrity and availability of applications, these security vulnerabilities must be proactively addressed and remedied.

Containerized applications and their security concerns

Containerized applications are software programs and their dependencies packaged together in a self-contained environment called a container, which ensures consistent and efficient deployment across different cloud computing environments and represents a progressive step in the evolution of provisioning IT services. Containers can be thought of as a miniature computer that functions like a self-contained unit, housing both the operating system and all the accompanying code, neatly packaged for deployment.

Problems arise when organizations overlook security to eagerly adopt containers under the mistaken belief that they are inherently secure and impervious to vulnerabilities. With their constant changes and dependencies, containers' dynamic nature presents a special vulnerability and management difficulty. Traditional security tools are not thorough or flexible enough to adequately identify vulnerabilities and with the rate of change in container environments being too rapid for manual scanning and retroactive patching, there is a pressing need to put strong security controls in place.

The solution: Inline scanner integration

An inline scanner is a type of security tool that is integrated directly into a network to continuously monitor, inspect and analyze the data passing through it in real-time to mitigate security threats such as malware, viruses or malicious activities. This real-time monitoring and immediate response capability make inline scanners an essential component of network security infrastructure, helping organizations protect their systems and data from various cyber threats.

When integrated into a containerized application, inline scanners offer a means to deploy containers on an enterprise level by proactively addressing the need for security controls. Instead of the traditional process of uploading, running scans and discovering vulnerabilities later, an integrated inline scanner takes a proactive approach in the development cycle by conducting proactive virus scanning and vulnerability assessments on containers prior to deployment.

Sources

[1] August 2021, “The Innovation Leader’s Guide to Navigating the Cloud-Native Container Ecosystem,” Gartner

[2] Integrate Inline Scanner, Lacework