How CNAPP Helps Counter Security Challenges?

In the past few years, the term “cloud native” has gained popularity. Organizations all across the world are either working on pilot projects integrating microservices and Kubernetes or are currently running cloud-native workloads in production. 

Teams have learned, however, how difficult service-oriented apps can be as a result of the increasing usage of cloud-native infrastructure. Teams now have workloads that are inherently complex. As well as very challenging to secure. Especially given the recent trend toward hybrid and multi-cloud platforms.

Teams end up deploying a range of solutions and end up with a clumsily put-together mish-mash of old and new tools. Tools that only address a small amount of security use cases. As a result of a lack of knowledge on how to secure these complex cloud-native workloads. This method is compartmentalized since each tool handles a specific security duty. Teams are ultimately left to deal with the security gaps that these shoddy integrations of products create.

Support teams for large, mission-critical workloads are constantly under a barrage of security issues that are impossible to identify, prioritize, and fix in a timely manner. This not only places a significant burden on IT personnel, but it may also have an effect on the company’s operations.

DevOps teams slow down because they spend more time on security problems than on crucial development tasks.

The Drawbacks of Contemporary Security Methods

By integrating security into cloud native workloads from the very beginning, the DevSecOps methodology aims to avoid situations like this one. It also spares security teams from having to deal with security compliance at the eleventh hour. Every step of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) should ideally include security. The development of security standards and benchmarks that each team must adhere to is now possible because security teams are no longer in isolation and truly comprehend the business logic. 

The DevSecOps strategy necessitates a paradigm shift, thus DevOps teams must prioritize security. Even while the technologies part of the DevSecOps pipelines accomplishes their jobs; there are still moments when they fall short of expectations because gaps are left unfilled.

Organizations can classify the cloud-native security products they use according to what they do. The following solutions are in use by the majority of organizations; Cloud security posture management (CPSM), Kubernetes security posture management (KSPM), cloud workload protection platforms (CWPP), container scanning, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) scanning, and cloud identity and entitlement management (CIEM).

The majority of security issues with current apps are, in theory, addressed by all these techniques. However, employing many tools necessitates extra work to integrate them via APIs and separate payment for each product. However, all of that time, money, and effort goes to waste if applications still have numerous security problems. This is because of the complexity of cloud-native workloads.

The One-Stop Shop for all Your Security Needs is CNAPP

In a research—outlining the need for a converged security solution that was released earlier this year, Gartner used the term cloud native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP). A CNAPP manages security implementation across all facets of infrastructure, freeing up DevOps teams to focus on the most pressing issues. Teams won’t need to add yet more tools to their already intricate pipelines; CNAPP is a complete makeover. Multiple standalone security products may not be necessary with just one solution.

The following features make CNAPPs such a unique security solution.

1. No matter which public cloud vendor an enterprise runs its workloads on, CNAPPs can find vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in the cloud infrastructure. Cloud security posture management (CPSM) solutions typically handle this role.
2. By locating misconfigurations that could expose workloads, CNAPPs help safeguards K8s clusters. A Kubernetes security posture management (KSPM) solution is typically used for accomplishing this.
3. Workloads in VMs, containers or serverless functions can all be scanned for vulnerabilities by CNAPPs. CWPPs, or cloud workload protection platforms, are typically in charge of this responsibility.
4. From the outset of development, CNAPPs scan container images to significantly reduce the risk resulting from incorrect setup, poor secret management, and hardening.
5. CNAPPs also assist in making sure that infrastructure permission configurations meet the established security criteria and adhere to all best practices. Traditionally, cloud identity and entitlement management (CIEM) solutions have been in charge of handling this.

CNAPP Countering Security Challenges

CNAPPs are crucial for teams sick of receiving hundreds of security alerts per day. Typically, standalone tools are context-free and view every security vulnerability as a high risk. Teams can miss important dangers due to ineffective prioritization of these risks as they spend their time sorting through a sea of warnings. 

Teams can handle hazards that require quick action with the support of insights from CNAPPs. CNAPPs are able to give effective alerts that enable teams to go to work without wasting time identifying the root cause of potential danger. This is possible by comprehending how several components of a single task interact.

CNAPPs give teams the right understanding of the more important risks and assist in swiftly mitigating them. Therefore, teams may keep concentrating on innovation. SREs need to be aware that no application will ever be perfect. There will always be hazards, and more risks will emerge. There is no such thing as a fully secure product. Teams can try to handle risks that require immediate attention.