Container Security

Container Security encompasses the practices, tools, and policies used to protect containerized applications throughout the development lifecycle and runtime.

Security Domains

• Image Security - Scanning, signing, and trusted base images
• Registry Security - Secure storage and access control
• Runtime Security - Container isolation and threat detection
• Orchestration Security - Kubernetes and platform hardening
• Network Security - Container network policies and segmentation

Key Practices

• Shift Left Security - Integrating security into CI/CD pipelines
• Immutable Infrastructure - Replacing containers rather than patching
• Least Privilege - Minimal container permissions and capabilities
• Runtime Protection - Behavior monitoring and anomaly detection
• Secrets Management - Secure credential handling

Container Security Tools

• Image scanners (Trivy, Clair, Anchore)
• Runtime security (Falco, Sysdig)
• Kubernetes security (OPA/Gatekeeper, Kyverno)
• Service mesh (Istio, Linkerd)
• Secrets management (HashiCorp Vault)

Compliance Considerations

• CIS Benchmarks for Docker and Kubernetes
• Pod Security Standards
• Network policies and segmentation
• Audit logging and monitoring
• Supply chain security (SBOM, signatures)