The world of software development has experienced massive transformation in the last few decades. Gone are the days when software applications were built and implemented on specific systems in isolation.
With more businesses realizing the need for a digital transformation, the demand for portable and lightweight applications has also skyrocketed. This has been accompanied by the advent of cloud servers that provide an agile platform to deploy applications faster and more efficiently.
The Advent of the Cloud
The days of cloud-based and cloud-migrated applications are already in the past. In recent years, there’s been an increased emphasis on the need to go cloud-native. Consequently, new technologies, such as microservices and software containers, have become more prevalent.
While the concept of software containers isn’t new, they’ve become exceptionally popular in the last few years. This can be attributed to the introduction of container development platforms, such as Kubernetes and Docker.
According to a 2019 study, software containers and container as a service are among the most popular applications of the cloud. However, application containerization poses a wide array of new security challenges that aren’t associated with conventional software development.
This, in turn, highlights the need for advanced container security tools and policies. In this blog, we’ll delve deeper into the concept of container security and identify its unique challenges. We’ll also discuss a few simple ways to implement container security. Let’s get started.
Software Containers: A Closer Look
Simply put, containers are the building blocks of cloud-native applications. A container is a standalone unit of software that bundles everything an application needs to run into a single package.
It includes various elements, including:
- Software code
- Libraries
- Configuration files
- Other dependencies
This, in turn, ensures that the application can smoothly run in any host environment, irrespective of the operating system and network infrastructure. It makes containerized applications extremely lightweight and portable.
Also, they’re faster and easier to deploy. You just have to package a running instance of the container into an image and deploy it in the host environment.
It’s worth mentioning here that software containers go a notch higher than virtualization. They’re better at utilizing server resources. Also, unlike virtual machines, multiple containers don’t need individual OSs to run.
Despite the awesome benefits of using software containers, many developers still hesitate to use them. This is primarily because of the new security challenges that containers bring to the table.
Container Security & Its Challenges
In simple terms, container security refers to the use of security tools and policies to safeguard the integrity of software containers. It isn’t limited to protecting the application code and files within a container. You also have to secure the servers, host environment, and network infrastructure to protect the application.
Moreover, it’s worth noting here that containers are extremely dynamic in nature. This is because they’re frequently updated and/or replaced. It’s necessary for implementing patches, as well as, adding new features and functionality to an application.
However, this makes securing the software supply chain even more challenging. Every time a container is updated or replaced, it presents an opportunity to introduce new threats into the system. Static security protocols aren’t of much use in such cases.
This, in turn, emphasizes the need for specialized container security policies. The idea is to continuously identify and eliminate threats while the container is being developed, deployed, and run.
How to Implement Container Security
First things first – you can’t wait to build and deploy a container before you start detecting and removing threats. The best approach is to make this a part of the CI/CD pipeline and identify threats in real-time. This, in turn, will help you protect the application, as well as the deployment and network infrastructure.
Here are a few more tips to help you implement container security:
1. Use Smaller Containers
The larger your containers and the more files they include, the bigger the attack surface. That’s why it is a wise idea to restrict the size of individual containers by including only the base image and relevant libraries.
2. Protect Your Base Images
Each container is made up of various layers of files, known as images. The base image serves as the starting point from which a developer derives all the other images of a container. That’s why it is of the utmost importance to detect vulnerabilities and secure the base image.
Start by analyzing the base image to find out whether it’s from a trusted source. Next, look for any identifiable problems in the images and devise a system to monitor them. Also, check whether the runtime and OS layers are updated.
3. Use Role-Based Access
Use a private registry to control access to all the images in your container. Make sure only trusted and reliable users have access to the necessary files. Also, restrict access for API keys and login credentials to privileged users only.
4. Secure the Host Environment
Monitor the host environment to detect suspicious login attempts, as well as API and network calls. It’s also a good idea to outline a mitigation policy to deal with such threats.
What techniques have you used to implement container security? Share your tips in the comments section below.
