GigaOm Radar for Container Securityv3.0

1. Executive Summary

Container security technology is a critical component of modern application security, providing comprehensive protection for containerized applications and infrastructure throughout their entire lifecycle, from development to deployment and runtime. As organizations adopt containerization for its agility, scalability, and portability, they also face unique security challenges posed by the dynamic and distributed nature of containerized applications. Designed to fill the gap, container security solutions offer a multilayered approach to securing containers with several key capabilities:

• Vulnerability scanning: Container security solutions scan container images for known vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance issues before deployment, integrating with container registries, container orchestration platforms, and CI/CD pipelines to enable shift-left security practices.
• Runtime protection: Container security solutions continuously monitor runtime container activities, network traffic, and system calls to detect and respond to threats in real time, leveraging advanced techniques such as behavioral analysis and machine learning to identify anomalies and potential security incidents.
• Network segmentation and access control: Container security solutions enable granular network segmentation, microsegmentation, and access control policies, allowing organizations to enforce least privilege principles and limit lateral movement within containerized environments.
• Secrets management: Many container security solutions provide features for securely storing and distributing sensitive information, such as API keys, passwords, and certificates, ensuring secrets are not exposed in container images or configuration files.

The importance of container security cannot be overstated. Containerization introduces new security risks due to the dynamic nature of containers, their shared kernel space, and the increased attack surface they present. Traditional perimeter-based security approaches and host-based controls are often insufficient for securing containerized environments. Container security solutions address these challenges by providing:

• Automated protection: Container security solutions automate many security tasks, such as vulnerability scanning, policy enforcement, and incident response, reducing the burden on security teams and minimizing the risk of human error.
• Visibility: Container security solutions offer deep visibility into container activities, configurations, and dependencies, enabling organizations to identify and manage risks effectively.
• Compliance: Container security solutions help organizations stay in compliance with regulatory requirements by enforcing security best practices, generating audit trails, and providing built-in compliance checks.

The container security landscape is continuously evolving to keep pace with the growing adoption of containerization and the ever-changing threat landscape. Some key trends shaping the future of container security include:

• Kubernetes-native security: Container security solutions are increasingly focusing on providing Kubernetes-specific security features (given its widespread adoption), such as admission controllers, pod security policies, and role-based access control (RBAC) management.
• AI and machine learning: Advanced AI and machine learning techniques are being leveraged for more accurate, proactive, and adaptive threat detection, anomaly identification, and automated incident response.
• Cloud-native integration: As organizations embrace cloud-native architectures, container security solutions are evolving to integrate seamlessly with cloud-native technologies and support multicloud and hybrid environments.
• Policy as code: There is a growing trend toward defining security policies as code for consistent and automated security policy management, allowing them to be version controlled, automatically enforced, and integrated into DevOps workflows.
• Serverless and service mesh security: As serverless containers and service mesh architectures gain traction, container security solutions are adapting to provide security controls tailored to these new paradigms.

As containerization continues to gain momentum, container security technology will play an increasingly critical role in protecting modern application workloads. The ongoing evolution of container security solutions, driven by innovation and the need to address emerging threats, ensures organizations can confidently embrace the power of containers while upholding the highest standards of security and compliance.

This is our third year evaluating the container security space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports. This report builds on our previous analysis and considers how the market has evolved over the last year.

This GigaOm Radar report examines 22 top container security solutions and compares offerings against the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) outlined in the companion Key Criteria report. Together, these reports provide an overview of the market, identify leading container security offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions to make a more informed investment decision.