Analysis of the characteristics of these 10 container security tools, worth collecting

With the maturity of Docker and Kubernetes technologies, containers have become one of the hottest development concepts currently. It is an important part of the cloud native concept. It can support the operation of cloud applications in a lightweight and low-cost way, and has the advantages of portability, consistency and high efficiency. According to survey data from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), 96% of enterprise organizations have begun to actively use or evaluate and test container technology.

However, just like cybersecurity, ensuring that containers run securely is a complex activity that requires a combination of specialized people, processes, technologies, and products. However, currently, there are many types of Docker security management tools in the industry that can be used to solve container security issues, including:

• Docker configuration checking tools: mainly scan Docker image ports and network configurations to identify and mark potential problems;

• Docker access management tools: mainly help limit and monitor Docker containers' access to resources by assigning specific roles and responsibilities;

• Customizable Docker policy tools: Allow users to create, enforce and monitor their own security policies in containers, scan various file types, and focus on managing the metadata associated with container images;

• Docker application security tools: These tools are mainly used to protect application code in Docker containers.

With the help of advanced Docker security management tools, enterprise organizations can automatically scan Docker images and find security vulnerabilities, discovering outdated software packages or known security vulnerabilities; in addition, these tools can also effectively help security personnel analyze the contents of Docker images, Including configuration parameters and correlation items, etc., to identify potential risks that may lead to security risks in container applications. This article collects and sorts out the 10 most popular container security protection tools and analyzes their application characteristics. Moreover, enterprise organizations can use these tools for free to solve security issues related to container applications.

Docker Bench is a very popular container security protection tool, mainly used to check the security configuration of the installed Docker system. It automatically evaluates Docker hosts based on common security best practices and provides recommendations for enhancing the security of your Docker environment.

The main function:

• Check whether the Docker daemon is securely configured and whether container runtime security features are enabled;

• Identify potential vulnerabilities in Docker hosts and provide a comprehensive security assessment;

• Generate detailed reports of security audits and include complete test result information;

• Help enterprises implement Docker environments that follow industry-recognized best practices;

• High usability and easy to integrate into existing security workflow;

• Free to use and suitable for enterprise organizations looking for a tool to quickly evaluate Docker security configurations.

Portal:

https://github.com/docker/docker-bench-security

Spectral is a powerful Docker vulnerability scanning platform that can serve as a security management and control tool for source code and other development resources. It helps container application developers monitor and detect issues in API keys, tokens, credentials and security configurations in real time.

The main function:

• Continuously scan and monitor known and unknown assets to prevent data breaches;

• Seamlessly integrates with popular CI systems such as Jenkins and Azure DevOps;

• Users can create and use custom detectors to meet specific security needs;

• Supports more than 500 different stacks, regardless of programming language;

• Designed for developers, providing a clean user interface and command line methods;

• Provides deep integration with Azure DevOps, supporting real-time vulnerability detection, policy implementation and other functions;

• Focus on the security and privacy of code and data, and are not connected to GitHub;

• Free trial is available, and commercial customization services are supported.

Portal:

https://spectralops.io/

Clair is a free open source container vulnerability analysis tool that can perform static analysis of vulnerabilities in Docker containers. It is currently widely used by container application developers to retrieve container images and match them against known vulnerabilities.

The main function:

•Allows users to update vulnerability data from various user-defined data sources;

• Provide an API interface for customers to query the vulnerability database of a certain container image;

•Can perform layer-by-layer analysis on container images to check whether there are known security vulnerabilities at each layer;

•A list can be created for the features present in each image to retrieve container images;

•Ability to integrate seamlessly with the Docker ecosystem;

•Provides a command line tool called Clair-scanner, which can effectively simplify the scanning process.

Portal:

https://github.com/quay/clair

Anchore is a very popular commercial container vulnerability scanning tool. It helps automate the container scanning process of development environments, CI/CD pipelines, registries, and runtime environments with a comprehensive set of API and CLI tools.

The main function:

• Identify outdated package versions and vulnerabilities in dependencies;

• Provides inline scanning capabilities via Bash scripts hosted on Anchore servers;

• Provides comprehensive scan results, including metadata about the image and a table of identified issues;

• Flexible customization, allowing users to define their own security policies;

• Help users automate container vulnerability scanning;

• It can be tried for free, and four business plans are provided: "Team Edition", "Business Edition", "Ultimate Plus Edition" and "Premium Edition".

Portal:

https://anchore.com/container-vulnerability-scanning/

JFrog is a relatively comprehensive Docker vulnerability scanning tool that can cover the entire life cycle of Docker images. Users can use JFrog to manage application development, vulnerability analysis, artifact flow control and distribution.

The main function:

• Ability to quickly scan local Docker images to detect security vulnerabilities;

• Ability to perform deep recursive scans of Docker images;

• Able to comprehensively analyze all Docker images containing infected artifacts;

• Can cover the entire life cycle security protection of Docker images;

• A free trial is available, and Professional, Enterprise X and Enterprise+ editions are available. Users can also customize the plan according to their own needs.

Portal:

https://jfrog.com/integration/xray-docker-security-scanning/

An open source vulnerability management tool for Docker containers and Kubernetes clusters launched by Aqua Security's Trivy. Users can use it to detect vulnerabilities in various operating systems and programming languages, including Oracle Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

The main function:

• Comprehensive coverage of operating system packages and programming language dependencies;

• Can be seamlessly integrated with Docker Desktop, allowing developers to easily scan container images for vulnerabilities directly from the Docker control platform;

• Provides fast stateless scanning, making it easy to integrate into daily routines, scripts and continuous integration (CI) pipelines;

• Allows developers to parse and scan an unlimited number of container images;

• Supports multiple programming languages, operating system packages, and application dependencies;

• Support early scanning of artifacts and dependencies in the software development lifecycle, following the shift-left security principle;

• It's free to use, no purchase required.

Portal:

https://trivy.dev/

Armo is another popular security scanning tool for Docker images and Kubernetes clusters that can help organizations perform vulnerability detection in the early stages of SLDC or third-party registries.

The main function:

• Provide runtime protection for Docker containers;

• Detect vulnerabilities in operating system packages, libraries, and application dependencies, allowing users to take appropriate remedial actions;

• Support users to define and execute security policies for Docker containers;

• Use threat intelligence to stay up to date on the latest security threats and vulnerabilities;

• Provide security auditing and reporting functions to help enterprises meet compliance needs;

• A free version is available, as well as paid team and enterprise versions.

Portal:

https://www.armosec.io/

Falco is an open source runtime security solution for hosts, containers and Kubernetes, which can help enterprises understand the abnormal behavior, potential security threats and violations of container running in real time.

The main function:

• Gain real-time visibility into containerized applications and detect potentially malicious activity and anomalous behavior;

• Designed to work seamlessly in cloud-native environments, including Docker containers and Kubernetes

• Allow users to customize security rules based on specific needs.

• Detailed logging of detected events provides an audit trail of container activity.

• An open source project with an active community.

• Free to use, no purchase required.

Portal:

https://falco.org/

Rapid7 offers a range of tools for Docker vulnerability scanning and container security. Rapid7 InsightVM is widely used for endpoint scanning, risk prioritization and remediation.

The main function:

• Provides insight into the risks posed by container images.

• It can scan container images, discover managed systems, assign risk scores to vulnerabilities, and provide remediation guidance;

• Containerized scanning engine allows scalable vulnerability scanning across Docker environments, is easy to deploy, and offers scheduling options;

• It is free to use and supports customized business solutions.

Portal:

https://www.rapid7.com/products/insight

Docker Scan CLI is a built-in tool for scanning Docker images. It relies on a vulnerability database to identify known security vulnerabilities. Therefore, users need to ensure that the Docker and database versions are up to date to obtain accurate detection results.

The main function:

• Supports basic vulnerability scanning of Docker Hub repositories and automatically scans Docker images for vulnerabilities;

• Scan Docker images by pushing them to Docker Hub so users can view vulnerability reports on the repository page;

• Docker Scout provides the latest vulnerability information and recommends remediation steps to improve the security posture;

• It is a very simple method to scan Docker image vulnerabilities and is free to use.

Portal:

https://github.com/docker/scan-cli-plugin

https://spectralops.io/blog/top-10-docker-vulnerability-scanners-for-2023/