Cloud-native app platforms are software platforms that enable developers to build, deploy, and run applications that leverage the benefits of cloud computing. Cloud-native apps are designed to be scalable, resilient, and agile, using technologies such as microservices, containers, and serverless functions. However, cloud-native apps also pose unique security challenges that require a different approach than traditional applications. In this article, we will explore what are cloud-native app platforms, why it is important to secure them, what are the common security challenges they face, and how to secure them using best practices and tools.

Introduction

What are cloud-native app platforms?

Cloud-native app platforms are software platforms that provide the infrastructure, tools, and services for developing, deploying, and running cloud-native applications. Cloud-native app platforms aim to simplify the complexity of cloud computing by abstracting away the underlying hardware and network resources and providing a consistent and unified environment for developers and operators. Some examples of cloud-native app platforms are Kubernetes, OpenShift, Cloud Foundry, AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Google Cloud Run, etc.

Why is it important to secure cloud-native app platforms?

Securing cloud-native app platforms is important for several reasons:

• Cloud-native apps handle sensitive data and transactions that need to be protected from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction.
• Cloud-native apps are exposed to a larger attack surface and more attack vectors than traditional applications, due to their distributed and dynamic nature.
• Cloud-native apps rely on multiple components and services that need to be secured individually and collectively.
• Cloud-native apps need to comply with various regulations and standards that mandate security requirements and controls.

Common cloud-native app security challenges

Some of the common security challenges that cloud-native app platforms face are:

• Lack of visibility and control over the cloud infrastructure and resources
• Complexity and diversity of the cloud-native app architecture and components
• Difficulty in implementing consistent and effective security policies and controls across the cloud-native app lifecycle
• Lack of security skills and awareness among developers and operators
• The rapid pace of change and innovation in the cloud-native app environment

How to Secure Cloud-Native App Platforms

To secure cloud-native app platforms, we need to adopt a holistic and proactive approach that covers all aspects of the cloud-native app lifecycle: development, deployment, operation, and maintenance. Here are some of the best practices and tools that can help us achieve this goal:

1. Implement a DevSecOps culture

DevSecOps is a culture that integrates security into every stage of the development process. DevSecOps aims to shift security left by embedding security practices into the development workflow, rather than treating security as an afterthought or a separate phase. DevSecOps enables faster delivery of secure code, reduces security risks and costs, improves collaboration and communication among teams, and enhances customer trust and satisfaction.

To implement a DevSecOps culture in your organization, you need to:

• Define clear security goals and metrics for your cloud-native app projects
• Educate your developers and operators on security principles and best practices
• Incorporate security tools and automation into your development pipeline
• Perform regular security testing and scanning throughout the development process
• Implement continuous feedback loops and learning mechanisms for security improvement

2. Use a Cloud-Native Security Platform (CNAPP)

A CNAPP is a platform that provides end-to-end security solutions for cloud-native app platforms. A CNAPP helps you secure your cloud infrastructure, your cloud-native applications, and your cloud operations. A CNAPP offers features such as:

• Identity and access management (IAM) for managing user identities and permissions
• Encryption and key management for protecting data at rest and in transit
• Firewalling and network segmentation for isolating network traffic
• Vulnerability scanning and patching for detecting and fixing security issues
• Compliance auditing and reporting for meeting regulatory requirements
• Threat detection and response for identifying and mitigating attacks

Some examples of CNAPPs are Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, Aqua Security, Sysdig Secure, etc.

3. Secure your cloud infrastructure

Your cloud infrastructure is the foundation of your cloud-native app platform. You need to secure it by implementing strong identity and access management (IAM) controls, configuring your cloud resources securely, and using cloud-native security tools and services.

Implement strong identity and access management (IAM) controls

IAM is the process of managing who can access what in your cloud environment. IAM controls help you prevent unauthorized access, enforce the least privilege principle, monitor user activities, audit user actions, etc.

To implement strong IAM controls in your cloud infrastructure, you need to:

• Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) for verifying user identities
• Use role-based access control (RBAC) for granting user permissions based on their roles
• Use attribute-based access control (ABAC) for granting user permissions based on their attributes
• Use single sign-on (SSO) for simplifying user authentication across multiple services
• Use federated identity management (FIM) for integrating external identity providers with your cloud services

Configure your cloud resources securely

Your cloud resources are the components and services that you use to build, deploy, and run your cloud-native applications. You need to configure them securely by following the security best practices and guidelines provided by your cloud provider. Some of the common security configurations that you need to apply are:

• Enable encryption for your data storage and data transfer
• Enable logging and auditing for your cloud activities and events
• Enable backup and recovery for your data and applications
• Enable firewall and network security groups for your virtual machines and containers
• Enable security groups and policies for your serverless functions

Use cloud-native security tools and services

Your cloud provider offers various security tools and services that can help you secure your cloud infrastructure. You need to use them to complement your security solutions and enhance your security posture. Some of the common security tools and services that you can use are:

• Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tools for assessing and improving your cloud security configuration
• Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) tools for protecting your cloud workloads from threats
• Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) tools for securing your cloud access and data
• Cloud Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools for collecting and analyzing your cloud security data
• Cloud Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) tools for automating and streamlining your cloud security operations

4. Secure your cloud-native applications

Your cloud-native applications are the software products that you deliver to your customers using the cloud-native app platform. You need to secure them by implementing security best practices in your development process, scanning your code for vulnerabilities, using secure coding practices, and implementing security controls at the application level.

Implement security best practices in your development process

Your development process is the way you design, code, test, and deploy your cloud-native applications. You need to implement security best practices in your development process by following the DevSecOps culture that we discussed earlier. Some of the common security best practices that you need to implement are:

• Perform threat modeling and risk assessment for your cloud-native app projects
• Define security requirements and standards for your cloud-native app projects
• Use secure design patterns and architectures for your cloud-native app projects
• Implement secure coding guidelines and checklists for your cloud-native app projects
• Perform code reviews and peer reviews for your cloud-native app projects

Scan your code for vulnerabilities

Your code is the source of your cloud-native applications. You need to scan it for vulnerabilities by using static analysis tools, dynamic analysis tools, dependency analysis tools, etc. These tools help you identify and fix security issues in your code before they become exploitable in production. Some of the common types of vulnerabilities that you need to scan for are:

• Injection flaws such as SQL injection, command injection, etc.
• Broken authentication and session management such as weak passwords, session hijacking, etc.
• Cross-site scripting (XSS) such as reflected XSS, stored XSS, etc.
• Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) such as forged requests, CSRF tokens, etc.
• Insecure deserialization such as object injection, remote code execution, etc.

Use secure coding practices.

Your coding practices are the habits and techniques that you use to write your code. You need to use secure coding practices by following the secure coding guidelines and checklists that we discussed earlier. Some of the common secure coding practices that you need to use are:

• Validate user input and output
• Sanitize user input and output
• Encode user input and output
• Escape user input and output
• Use parameterized queries and prepared statements
• Use secure cryptographic algorithms and libraries
• Use secure random number generators
• Use secure communication protocols such as HTTPS, TLS, etc.
• Use secure storage mechanisms such as encryption, hashing, salting, etc.

Implement security controls at the application level.

Your application level is the layer where your cloud-native applications interact with users, data, and other applications. You need to implement security controls at the application level by using application security frameworks, libraries, modules, etc. These controls help you protect your application logic, functionality, and data from attacks. Some of the common security controls that you need to implement are:

• Authentication controls such as username/password, MFA, SSO, FIM, etc.
• Authorization controls such as RBAC, ABAC, ACLs, etc.
• Data protection controls such as encryption, hashing, salting, masking, tokenization, etc.
• Session management controls such as session IDs, cookies, tokens, etc.

• Input/output validation controls such as input sanitization, output encoding, etc.
• Error handling and logging controls such as error messages, exception handling, logging levels, etc.
• Security testing and scanning controls such as unit testing, integration testing, penetration testing, etc.

5. Monitor your cloud-native environment for threats

Your cloud-native environment is the ecosystem where your cloud-native app platform and applications operate. You need to monitor it for threats by implementing continuous security monitoring, using security logging and analytics tools, and establishing a security incident response plan.

Implement continuous security monitoring.

Continuous security monitoring is the process of collecting and analyzing security data from your cloud-native environment in real-time. Continuous security monitoring helps you detect and prevent security breaches, identify and mitigate vulnerabilities, comply with security standards and regulations, and improve your security posture.

To implement continuous security monitoring in your cloud-native environment, you need to:

• Define your security objectives and metrics for your cloud-native environment
• Identify your key security indicators and sources of security data
• Collect and aggregate your security data from various sources
• Analyze and correlate your security data using rules, algorithms, and machine learning
• Visualize and report your security data using dashboards, alerts, and notifications

Use security logging and analytics tools

Security logging and analytics tools are tools that help you collect, store, process, and analyze your security data from your cloud-native environment. Security logging and analytics tools help you gain insights into your cloud-native environment’s security status, performance, behavior, and trends.

To use security logging and analytics tools in your cloud-native environment, you need to:

• Choose a suitable security logging and analytics tool for your cloud-native environment
• Configure your security logging and analytics tool to collect the relevant security data
• Integrate your security logging and analytics tool with your other security tools and services
• Use your security logging and analytics tool to perform security analysis and reporting

Some examples of security logging and analytics tools are Splunk Enterprise Security, Elastic Stack, Sumo Logic Cloud SIEM Enterprise, etc.

Establish a security incident response plan.

A security incident response plan is a plan that defines how you will respond to a security incident in your cloud-native environment. A security incident response plan helps you minimize the impact of a security incident, contain the incident, recover from the incident, and learn from the incident.

To establish a security incident response plan for your cloud-native environment, you need to:

• Define the roles and responsibilities of your incident response team
• Define the procedures and steps for responding to a security incident
• Define the communication channels and protocols for reporting and escalating a security incident
• Define the tools and resources for investigating and resolving a security incident
• Define the post-incident activities and lessons learned for improving your incident response capabilities

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed what are cloud-native app platforms, why it is important to secure them, what are the common security challenges they face, and how to secure them using best practices and tools. We have covered the following topics:

• Implementing a DevSecOps culture
• Using a cloud-native security platform (CNAPP)
• Securing your cloud infrastructure
• Securing your cloud-native applications
• Monitoring your cloud-native environment for threats

By following these guidelines, you can ensure that your cloud-native app platforms are secure, reliable, and compliant. You can also deliver better value to your customers by providing them with high-quality and secure cloud-native applications.

We hope that this article has been helpful and informative for you. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for reading!