If your organization is engaged in the development of cloud-native applications, particularly within hybrid or multicloud environments, ensuring robust security measures is likely a top priority. These environments are inherently intricate, characterized by various components such as microservices, APIs, Kubernetes clusters, and more, each potentially exposing vulnerabilities. Compounding this complexity are layers of abstraction, such as AWS Lambda, which, while streamlining management, can obscure visibility. Additionally, reliance on open source software (OSS) introduces supply-chain security risks, heightened by the rapid pace of development, leaving little time for exhaustive security testing.

The heightened complexity and security concerns underscore the necessity for comprehensive, automated cloud-native security solutions that cover the entire software development lifecycle—from initial development to deployment and production—across diverse cloud platforms.

Choosing an appropriate solution, however, is not a straightforward task, given the abundance of cloud-native security offerings in the market. The landscape is further complicated by the use of buzzwords and acronyms that may imply standardization but often lack precision.

For instance, in 2021, Gartner introduced the term Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) in a report, intending to standardize features and capabilities. However, different CNAPP solutions, like Palo Alto Networks' Prisma Cloud, Ermetic's CNAPP, and Cyscale, exhibit variations in features, such as data classification, threat intelligence feeds, and cloud infrastructure entitlement management.

Despite the labeling, it is essential to delve deeper into each product's specifications to ascertain its suitability for specific requirements. To assist in navigating this complex landscape, here is a list of common cloud-native security acronyms and their meanings:

CASB: Cloud Access Security Broker

Manages policies for both managed and unmanaged cloud services, offering visibility, data security, threat prevention, compliance, and protection against shadow IT.
CIEM: Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management
Automated solutions safeguarding against data breaches in public cloud environments by continuously monitoring permissions, ensuring appropriate access controls, and providing comprehensive reporting.

CNAPP: Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms

Unified and integrated security and compliance capabilities designed to secure cloud-native applications throughout development and production. Encompasses container scanning, cloud security posture management, infrastructure as code scanning, and more.

CSPMs: Cloud-Security Posture Management

Manages security posture across infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS), and platform as a service (PaaS) through prevention, detection, and response to cloud infrastructure risks.

CWPPs: Cloud Workload Protection Platforms

Focuses on protecting server workloads in hybrid and multicloud datacenter environments, providing visibility, integrity protection, application control, behavioral monitoring, and more.
SCA: Software Composition Analysis
Methodology for tracking open source software (OSS) components, generating a software bill of materials (SBOM) to aid in audits, transparency, and vulnerability assessments.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the key to effective cloud-native security lies in selecting solutions that offer end-to-end protection, addressing every stage of the application lifecycle. Look for features like code and CI/CD security, Infrastructure as Code (IaC) template scanning, SBOM generation, deep visibility, container and Kubernetes workload scanning, attack-path analysis, and intuitive dashboards for comprehensive security coverage.