VMware this month unveiled expanded cloud workload protection capabilities to deliver security for containers and Kubernetes. The new solution will help increase visibility, enable compliance and enhance security for containerised applications from build to production in public cloud and on-premises environments.
“Containers and Kubernetes are enabling organisations to develop and modernise applications faster than ever, but the innovation is also expanding the attack surface,” said Patrick Morley, senior vice president and general manager, Security Business Unit, VMware. “Our solution extends security to containers and Kubernetes to deliver a comprehensive cloud workload protection platform. With security built into the development and deployment of applications, we are bridging the gap between the SOC and DevOps teams to help our customers reduce the risks that come with running containers across clouds.”
For many organisations, migrating to the cloud has had to happen quickly and at a large scale to ensure business continuity amid the global pandemic. Development teams are looking to containers and Kubernetes for speed and the ability to scale application delivery. According to Gartner, “by 2025, more than 85% of global organisations will be running containerised applications in production, which is a significant increase from fewer than 35% in 2019,” (Gartner, Best Practices for Running Containers and Kubernetes in Production, Arun Chandrasekaran, August 2020). Organisations now need security for modern workloads to address a new set of threats and build resilient digital infrastructure.
VMware’s expanded cloud workload protection capabilities will deliver a comprehensive solution for InfoSec teams including:
● Security posture dashboard: Provides a combined view of vulnerabilities and misconfigurations to enable complete visibility into security posture across Kubernetes workload inventory. InfoSec and DevOps teams can gain deep visibility into workload security posture and governance to enable compliance, with the ability to freely explore Kubernetes workload configuration via customised queries.
● Container image scanning and hardening: InfoSec and DevOps teams can scan all container images to identify vulnerabilities and restrict the registries and repositories that are allowed in production. Teams can set minimum standards for security and compliance, generate compliance reports and follow CIS benchmarks and Kubernetes best practices.
● Prioritised risk assessment: Vulnerability assessments allow InfoSec and DevOps teams to review images running in production and only approved images are deployed. Security teams can use the prioritised risk assessment to detect and prevent vulnerabilities by scanning Kubernetes manifests and clusters.
● Compliance policy automation: InfoSec teams can shift-left into the development cycle, streamline compliance reporting and automate policy creation against industry standards such as NIST, as well as the customer’s organisational requirements. This enables the integrity of Kubernetes configurations through control and visibility of workloads that are deployed to an organisation’s clusters. Customisable policies help enforce configuration by blocking or alerting on exceptions.
The future of intrinsic security
The container security module complements the VMware Tanzu portfolio. Select Tanzu editions include a global control plane for centralised management of all aspects of cluster lifecycle, including policies for access, data protection, and more. Customers can now add powerful security for containers and Kubernetes applications while simplifying operations for InfoSec and DevOps teams.
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