Containerized environments are rapidly evolving, so the need for strong container security tools becomes apparent. They have opened new avenues in the development, deployment, and management of cloud-based applications, which means that threat actors have more opportunities to exploit various vulnerabilities. Container security tools are necessary to prevent unauthorized data access and business disruptions. Let’s explore the best container security tools released in 2024 and the most promising solutions in the area of threat detection and prevention. You will get actionable insights that will help you improve your cloud container security posture by the end of this guide.
What is a Container Security Tool?
A container security tool is software that protects and secures containerized applications and environments from various forms of security threats and vulnerabilities. Containers have emerged as one popular form for packaging and deploying applications, but they introduce altogether new challenges in terms of security. Container security tools share goals such as vulnerability management, container runtime security, network security, access control, compliance and governance, and monitoring and incident response.
They can mainly be classified as comprehensive solutions having a broad range of features for container security, solutions whose core focus is securing container-to-container and host communication, or solutions that even emphasize and prioritize vulnerability about container images and running containers. Some others are inclined particularly towards monitoring and enforcing security policies around containers in real-time.
Need for Container Security Tools
Containers are very popular because they’re lightweight and portable packages, which can then be deployed, but their ephemeral nature and lack of traditional security controls create vulnerabilities that may be exploited by hackers. Containers alone, if left unsecured, would actually be the weakest links in attacks. They can be exploited by malicious actors who gain unauthorized access to sensitive data.
Traditional security tools are dynamic and ephemeral. They are not built for live visibility, monitoring, and containerized p protection. Developers and security teams also need to detect threats before they become major incidents. Container security tools grant visibility into what’s going on inside containers. They can stop attackers from injecting malicious code into host images and monitor registries for tracking unusual access patterns. Containers serve as the foundation of many public-facing cloud apps which is why we need container security tools to protect them. They can be used to securely deploy containers in complex cloud ecosystems, harden environments, gain visibility into distributed environments, and minimize attack surfaces.
Best Container Security Tools in 2024
Look at the top container security tools based on Gartner Peer Insights ratings and reviews. Uncover their key features, cloud integrations, and overall ease of use.
#1. SentinelOne
SentinelOne comes with a real-time CWPP agent that protects your containerized workloads against runtime threats like malware, zero-days, and more. It delivers AI-powered threat protection and machine-speed response to defend containerized workloads across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and private data centers. Singularity™ Data Lake provides security analysts with deep visibility to investigate incidents. It provides a forensic history of cloud workload telemetry that is recorded and informs analysts with advanced threat-hunting capabilities.
SentinelOne is a global leader in enterprise cybersecurity powered by AI. It features one platform that protects all endpoints, clouds, and data. SentinelOne has been a Magic Quadrant™ Leader four years in a row. The company ranks #1 for protection across all MITRE evaluations. It offers the industry’s most awarded cloud security suite and the first AI security platform to protect the entire enterprise. SentinelOne breaks down security silos and grants enterprise-wide visibility and control. It eliminates risks, puts your data to work, and consolidates multiple security products to maximize business value.
Platform at a Glance
- SentinelOne Singularity™ Platform enables unfettered visibility, industry-leading detection, and autonomous response. It builds the proper foundation for enterprise-wide security. It enriches runtime threat detections with build time context, cloud metadata, and more via Singularity Marketplace integrations.
- Singularity™ Cloud Security from SentinelOne is the ultimate integrated CNAPP solution for enterprises. It offers features like Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR), AI Security Posture Management (AI-SPM), External Attack Surface and Management (EASM), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM), Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) Scanning, and Vulnerability Management.
- Singularity™ Identity provides active protection for your cloud identity infrastructure. It responds to in-progress attacks, deceives network adversaries, and offers holistic Active Directory and Entra ID solutions.
- Singularity™ Cloud Workload Security provides real-time hybrid cloud workload protection across AWS, Azure, GCP, and your private cloud or data center. It secures cloud servers, VMs, containers, and Kubernetes. You will auto-discover unprotected cloud compute instances and get support for 15 Linux distros, 20 years of Windows servers, and 3 container runtimes.
Best Features
- Application Control Engine: Defeats rogue processes not associated with workload images. Its Behavioral AI Engine can analyze malicious intent. SentinelOne’s Static AI Engine is trained over half a billion malware samples and can inspect file structures.
- Unified data lake: Singularity™ Data Lake by SentinelOne centralizes and transforms your data into real-time threat intelligence for rapid investigations. Its AI-driven unified data lake can perform lightning-fast queries, ingest data from any first-party or third-party source using pre-built connectors, and automatically normalize using the OCSF standard—Automate response with built-in alert correlation and custom STAR Rules.
- Gen AI analyst: Purple AI accelerates SecOps using Generative AI and enhances data privacy and protection. It supports the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework (OCSF) to query native and partner data instantly in a normalized view.
- Offensive Security Engine™: SentinelOne helps organizations outsmart attackers with its unique Offensive Security Engine™ and Verified Exploit Paths™. Its patented Storylines technology empowers organizations with deep visibility. SentinelOne leverages an eBPF architecture for OS process-level visibility with no kernel dependencies. It auto-discovers unprotected cloud computing instances.
- Digital forensics: Singularity™ RemoteOps Forensics accelerates incident response with unified digital forensics and streamlines investigation workflows.
Core Problems that SentinelOne Eliminates:
- Stops fileless attacks, malware infections, ransomware, and phishing threats
- Eliminates social engineering activities and removes unauthorized access privileges
- Solves multi-cloud compliance challenges for all industries and fixes inefficient workflows
- Ensures business continuity and prevents downtimes
- Identifies vulnerabilities in CI/CD pipelines, container registries, repos, and more
- Discovers unknown cloud deployments and fixes misconfigurations
“Provides excellent workload telemetry, hunting capabilities, and deep visibility. The most valuable feature is the ability to gain deep visibility into the workloads inside containers. The visibility of workload telemetry is excellent, and the hunting capabilities are second to none.
When no human intervention is required Singularity Cloud Workload Security detects and remediates nearly instantaneously. Our MTTD is sub 30 days. Our MTTR is seven days after detection for most instances. The interoperability with third-party solutions is great!” -Senior Software Engineer, PeerSpot Reviews
Look at Singularity™ Cloud Security’s ratings and review counts on peer-review platforms such as Gartner Peer Insights and PeerSpot.
#2. Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks
Prisma Cloud is an integrated, cloud-native security platform that provides end-to-end protection for containers, serverless functions, and cloud infrastructure. Its container security solution offers an extensive set of security capabilities to protect against vulnerabilities, malware, and unauthorized access to containerized applications. It delivers visibility and control into every aspect of the container application lifecycle, covering from from development to production through a single pane of glass view.
Features:
- Container image and registry vulnerability management and risk assessments
- Compliance scanning and container policy enforcement
- Network security and container segmentation
- Real-time threat detection and response
- Integrates with popular container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes
- Supports serverless functions and secures cloud-native apps
Assess Prisma Cloud’s effectiveness as a cloud security tool by taking a look at the number of reviews on PeerSpot.
#3. Check Point CloudGuard
Check Point protects organizations’ cloud-native applications from development through runtime. Users can ensure the integrity and security of their containerized environments whether on-premises or in the cloud.
It prevents attacks, detects vulnerabilities, and provides real-time incident response capabilities. CloudGuard integrates with popular container orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes to automate security policies within the organization while keeping up with regulatory requirements. It offers advanced threat protection against the most sophisticated attacks, such as malware, ransomware, and zero-days.
Features:
- It identifies and prioritizes vulnerabilities in container images, so users can proactively remediate potential security risks.
- Allows organizations to enforce regulatory compliance and security policies across their container environment, including HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR.
- It integrates with Kubernetes, Docker, and other popular orchestration platforms to help streamline security policy enforcement and automation.
- Fine-grained network segmentation enables users to disconnect and isolate individual containers and mitigate lateral movement attacks.
- Serverless functions and applications ensure the security of event-driven architectures — enabling users to define and enforce custom security policies across their containerized environments to ensure a consistent security posture.
- Integrates with popular DevOps tools such as Jenkins, GitLab, and CircleCI, which gives users the chance to embed security in CI/CD pipelines.
Learn about CheckPoint CloudGuard’s effectiveness as a container security solution by checking out its ratings on PeerSpot.
#4. Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Microsoft Defender for Cloud integrates with Azure, offering visibility and threat protection across multi-cloud environments. In contrast, SentinelOne’s Singularity Cloud Security uses AI-driven threat detection and automated response capabilities that robustly protect complex ecosystems. SentinelOne also has a lower setup cost, another significant factor to consider.
Features:
- Protects multi-cloud and hybrid environments with integrated security from code to cloud
- Unifies visibility across Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, and hybrid clouds
- Prevents, detects, and responds to attacks across multi-cloud security workloads with integrated extended detection and response (XDR) protection.
- Applies multi-cloud compliance policies, attack path analysis, and prevents Infrastructure-as-Code security misconfigurations
- Supports Azure Security Center and Azure Sentinel
See how Microsoft Defender for Cloud fares in the cloud security landscape by going through the various reviews at PeerSpot.
#5. Aqua Security
Aqua Security is a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) that secures AWS workloads and apps. It protects your assets in real-time and entire cloud estates. You can use Aqua Security to monitor CIS benchmarks and remediate risks from code to protection. Aqua Security is among the recommended container security tools for those who want to mature their organization’s DevSecOps practices.
Features:
- Offers granular runtime protection for cloud applications
- Software supply chain security, compliance management, and configuration management
- Vulnerability scanning, response automation, and infrastructure assurance
- Complete lifecycle container security and full-stack cloud-native security solution
See how Aqua Security compares to SentinelOne and how effective it is for remote organizations at PeerSpot.
How to Choose the Right Container Security Tools
For the selection of the right container security tools, an organization should account for its business and holistic security requirements. Knowing about the specific characteristics of the containers being used-how big and complex they are, and in which environment they have been deployed, is important. You need to consider the types of threats and vulnerabilities you deal with on a day-to-day basis. What type of security processes do you use with your current infrastructure?
You need to think about how many integrations you need with your other existing tools and systems, including the CI/CD pipeline, orchestration platforms, and SIEM systems. Your container security tool should deliver scalability and performance capabilities to deal with tens of thousands of containers and be able to handle extreme levels of traffic. Finally, a real-time capability of visibility and monitoring would be required. It will also be important whether the tool itself can automate and manage its configuration, access control, availability, and scaling.
Go for tools offering extensive documentation, training, and resources for support that are supported by strong communities of users and developers. Lastly, ensure you consider the cost and licensing models of these tools; and factor their compatibility with your existing infrastructure. This will help you determine which container security tool works best for you and protect apps and data without overutilizing your resources.
Conclusion
Any organization can deploy the best container security tools to detect and prevent container-based threats and ensure their applications and data security and integrity. The container security landscape is constantly evolving, with new threats and challenges emerging regularly. These tools and solutions mentioned above can help organizations establish a robust container security posture. Keeping track of the latest trends is also an effective method of using such tools. SentinelOne can help you secure your containerized workloads and cloud environments. You can contact the team to learn more. Book a free live demo.
FAQs
1. What is a Container Security Tool?
A container security tool is software that protects a containerized environment from all forms of security threats. Its security features are vulnerability management and threat detection for enhancing compliance monitoring towards ensuring the safety of containers with applications running in them. Container security tools help organizations identify potential security risks early enough and mitigate them before launching the attacks which ensures they are well compliant with several regulatory requirements.
2. What are the Best Container Security Tools Practices?
Best practices for container security tools are those that maintain a robust posture on security from day one, approaches that actively incorporate security into the development lifecycle and constant monitoring and update of security configurations. It should also support timely visibility and detection of threats with automated remediation and compliance monitoring. Apart from the above aspects, organizations should note that a tool integrates with the existing security infrastructure and workflows of the organization to give scalability and flexibility for containerized environments.
3. How Does a Container Security Tool Work?
Generally, a container security tool checks for vulnerabilities and threats in the container images and runtime environment and provides real-time monitoring along with threat detection. Typically, such solutions use a wide range of techniques signature-based detection, behavioral analysis, and machine learning. Automatic remediation actions are triggered for detected threats; they block malicious traffic or quarantine affected containers. Many of these tools also feature compliance monitoring and reporting, to help organizations meet pertinent regulatory requirements and maintain their containerized environment secure and compliant.