Container security has become an essential part of the development and overall DevOps. The number of security breaches each year continues to rise, leaking sensitive business and customer data. And no business, large or small is safe from cyber threats. GoDaddy, Marriott, Virgin Media, and even the United Nations were hacked in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also made businesses, enterprise companies, and governments more vulnerable as digital becomes more important to all of us.
This holds especially true for businesses in the software development space. Container images and the continued popularity of containers in DevOps has made security essential. Even the docker registry JFrog has taken advanced security measures to ward off cyber threats.
To help, we compiled a bit of expert knowledge when it comes to securing container files to minimize security breach risk for your company. Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
A Closer Look At Container Security In The Digital Age
Container security is exactly as the term implies, security for container files, and container images. However, it is a bit more complex than the term suggests. The security and integrity of container files should always be priority #1 for DevOps teams.
This also holds true for applications and the infrastructure used to develop and deploy the apps. This makes security a must-do, emphasizing continued security measures.
What does this look like? DevOps teams should secure applications, the container pipeline, integrated tools, and the deployment of all of the above. Always think security, reliability, and effective deployability when it comes to container file security.
Secure Base Images Across All Files
To secure container files to minimize security breach risk, you need to consider the multiple layers of each container singularly. Container files, also known as container images, have a single base image that started it all. This base image is the most critical of them all when it comes to container file security.
What Does Securing The Base Image In The Container Look Like Exactly?
First, DevOps needs to identify the trusted sources for the base image. This includes the schedule for updates, finding out if all sources are indeed trusted, checking for signatures, looking back at any previous issues, and making a plan to manage and track any future container image problems that may arise.
Doing the above can ensure security success for your container files, thus minimizing future security breach risk. Remember, start with the base image and work your way outward for each container.
Make A Strong Plan To Minimize Container Security Breach Risk
Securing the base container image is a great step in minimizing container security breach risk. However, you need a strong plan in place to ensure long-term security for your container files and software development business. It is essential to get the entire DevOps team involved in this.
Setting Up Container Security Management
Having a private registry should be the first step in the overall plan. Private registries can make managing your container files a top priority, as well as control accessibility. Registries will assign metadata to every single container file, helping DevOps seek out any potential weak spots in security.
Combine Security Testing With Automated Deployment
Deployment of your container files is what it’s all about when it comes to your business’ software development efforts. But security breaches can happen during deployment. Each development needs security management that embodies the industry standards.
How can you achieve such a level of management with container security at the forefront? Automated deployment. Automation can help DevOps quickly see container security weaknesses and failures. And as time marches on, having container security with automation lets you identify and track new container deployments for optimal security.
Automation is all about component analysis, integrating a way to identify issues via automated policy-based deployment. Find ways to automate processes for container development in order to redevelop and replace container files that may be a security breach risk.
Wrapping Up:
The above ways to secure container files to minimize security breach risk need to be emphasized throughout your business and especially within your DevOps. Developers, engineers, and operations need to work together to ensure security stays a top priority.
From utilizing registries to implementing automated deployment, there are certainly ways to easily secure container images, from base image development to application deployment.
Thinking security can help ward off cybercriminals, thus keeping your business safe from data leaks, which could be very costly. How are you minimizing security risks at your software development business? We want to get your take.
