In today's technologically advancing world, containers are becoming increasingly popular for deployment and scaling applications due to their efficiency, but with their vast applications come a host of container security concerns.
Containers are discrete environments, set with an operating system, that allow one or more applications to be run efficiently with the functionality it needs. According to GitLab’s 2022 Global DevSecOps Survey, only 64% of web security professionals had a plan for container security, leaving many container systems without adequate security measures. In this article, we’ll discuss the primary security risks associated with containers and how automation tools can enhance the security of containerized applications.
Container Security Challenges
Containers, while innovative and fast for deployment, can introduce several security threats to your system, including image vulnerabilities, runtime threats, configuration errors, access control, and compliance issues.
1. Image Vulnerabilities
Containerization involves packaging an application, its components, and dependencies into a portable unit called a 'container image'. Each container image comprises the operating system, libraries, and application code. Each component has its distinct security vulnerabilities, which can be tedious to identify and mitigate manually.
Containerized applications also rely on specific versions of different libraries. Outdated versions or those with bugs can also lead to faulty operations and open the system up to security threats. They might also contain third-party software that requires testing before introducing the system. Software of unknown or suspicious origin can also harm the privacy and security of the container image.
2. Configuration and Access Control
Containers launch and scale very rapidly during deployment. If the containerizing process is faulty, it might have some misconfigurations, which are challenging to catch manually. That might allow unauthorized parties to access the containers and their infrastructure. Poor configuration can expose the container's sensitive data, such as API keys, database credentials, or other critical information, to potential hackers or attackers.
3. Runtime Threats
Container security issues extend beyond initial application deployment. It's also crucial to monitor the container in real time to identify runtime threats. While running an application, a container can be misused for malicious activity such as lateral movement within a network, exfiltration of data, and launching denial-of-service attacks. New vulnerabilities can also emerge while running, which, if left unpatched, can affect the entire application.
4. Data Leakage
A container should be checked for unauthorized access to sensitive data. If you are running a database in the container you should not only full-proof the container for security checks but should also have proper user permissions set for transactional DB users.
5. Network Security
You should always check if the communication between containers is secure or not. Exposed ports can lead to security breaches and intruders can get access to the local network of the containers.
6. Orchestration Vulnerabilities
If you are using a platform like Kubernetes to manage the container lifecycle then you must configure and orchestrate the K8 nodes properly. You must have a proper network policy in place for securing the K8 network.
Automating Container Security
Automated container security management can streamline the application operations during deployment and in real-time. Automated tools can scan the container image for vulnerabilities upon deployment. If threats are detected, they either halt the deployment or raise warnings. Implementing intrusion detection systems and firewall rules can help detect real-time errors and threats automatically.
There are many 3rd party tools that you can use to enable container security for your setup.
Here are some of the popular tools:
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Clair: Vulnerability scanner that is used with container registry.
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Anchore Engine: This is a tool that you can use to analyze and inspect container images for security issues.
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Trivy: This tool can also be used for scanning container images for vulnerability.
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Datadog: You can use this tool for security issue monitoring.
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Kubernetes RBAC: Role-based access control is a good way to control access to K8 resources.
Apart from these, many other tools are good and can be used for ensuring container security.
Other automated solutions to mitigate security threats include but are not limited to integrating container security into a CI/CD pipeline, adapting your security policies based on whether the container scales up or down, and using an automated system to manage secret information like API keys, passwords, and tokens.
Endnote
While containers make deployment fast and efficient, they come with security concerns that might be too complex or time-consuming to solve manually. That's where automation comes to the rescue. Managing container security in a semi-automatic manner via image scanning, intrusion detection, and data security mechanisms can save the development and operations teams precious time that they would otherwise spend debugging allowing for more innovation in your containerized ecosystem.
