Aqua named a leader and an outperformer in GigaOm Container Security Radar
Containerization has revolutionized application development and deployment, providing enterprises with enhanced speed, agility, and consistency across different computing environments. However, this transformation introduces complexities, particularly regarding security. With the increasing adoption of containerized applications, there’s a growing demand for specialized security solutions tailored to address these unique challenges.
To help organizations navigate the complexities, GigaOm recently issued its Container Security Radar Report evaluating 15 container security providers. We’re proud to say that Aqua stood out among all the competition as both a leader and an outperformer. According to the analysts, Aqua offers “the only platform to deliver full lifecycle container security from code development across infrastructure to runtime controls, wherever your containers are deployed.”
Aqua Security’s rate of innovation and breadth of core features set us apart from the rest. Let’s look a little deeper into the GigaOm report, the key criteria you need to evaluate and why Aqua shined.
Containerized application development is growing
It has been estimated that “90% of global organizations will be running containerized applications in production by 2026—up from 40% in 2021 as illustrated in the chart below from IDC, containers are growing faster than VMs and bare metal.
Image 1: Containers are growing faster than VMs and bare metal
As organizations increasingly embraced containerized applications for their efficiency and scalability, the need for specialized container security tools has become more pronounced with many challenges seen over recent years when traditional security vendor solutions are entrusted with protecting container environments.
Our recognition as the overall leader in the GigaOm Radar report for container security not only confirms that traditional security offerings are not enough but our eight-year history of perfecting container security further proves this is not something that can be done overnight.
Container security requires more than traditional security.
Containers are elastic and ephemeral and are inherently designed to be more agile and flexible than traditional monolithic applications. This is why securing containers requires a different approach compared to traditional environments, as the dynamic and lightweight nature of containers introduces unique security risks that need to be addressed at every stage of the application lifecycle.
Aqua’s focus is on container security, as the report pointed out “there are not many container security issues they do not have a solution for. If it happens in the container lifecycle, Aqua is there.”
The report further spoke to the “depth of integration among the services, along with the breadth of container security-specific functionality, is a strength for this platform, and few competitors are as zeroed in and as comprehensive.”
The growing need for specialized container security tools
Container security tools are designed to cover the entire SDLC for containers, ensuring that security measures are integrated seamlessly from development to deployment. The GigaOm container security report underscores the escalating significance of specialized container security tools amidst the ever-evolving threat landscape.
The report’s methodology encompasses a rigorous evaluation of various container security solutions, gauging their efficacy in key areas such as deep image threat analysis, compliance policy monitoring and enforcement, runtime drift detection and response, registry scanning or monitoring, DevOps build scanning, and network isolation.
Aqua stands out in three key criteria.
- Critical Container Security Features
- Overall User Experience
- Container Security Innovation
Let’s look at a few of the key features that made the Aqua platform shine.
Full lifecycle container security
Aqua Security delivers unparalleled, end-to-end protection for containerized applications across all deployment environments. Our solution provides the critical container security features required to ensure comprehensive protection from development to deployment to runtime.
Our runtime protection capabilities earned us exceptional ratings. Our runtime solution monitors containers in real time, detects any suspicious activities, including container drift, and responds to threats promptly. Our intelligence-powered security policies are informed by real-world cloud native threat research from Aqua Nautilus. These policies define what actions containers can perform at runtime and prevent containers from performing dangerous actions, providing an additional layer of protection.
Fully integrated platform powered by one universal scanner
Our universal scanner streamlines the security workflow by replacing the need for multiple scanners throughout the application lifecycle, ensuring consistency in results and enabling teams across development, operations, and security to unite around the same risk data. This approach not only enhances security but also promotes collaboration and accelerates both development and security processes preventing risk earlier in the lifecycle with CI build, registry, and image scanning, earning Aqua high ratings in the Overall User Experience category.
Additionally, Aqua maintains flexibility by being able to fit into any cloud stack the customer chooses, ensuring compatibility and facilitating a smooth and secure transition to the cloud. Empowering organizations to fortify their infrastructure against evolving threats while optimizing operational efficiency. Aqua’s Container Security solution is designed for scalability. As highlighted in the report, the solution supports many of the tool’s enterprises are likely to be using and supports them with a depth of integration that makes support meaningful.
Container security innovation
What distinguished our platform was our robust container image policy management functionality and seamless integration capabilities that allows organizations to tailor security measures based on predetermined risk acceptance levels. End-to-end security assurance policies accelerate compliance and reduce development vulnerability rework, enabling the fine-tuning of security protocols to align with specific business needs and compliance requirements such as HIPAA, NIST, PCI etc.
Our unique Dynamic Threat Analysis (DTA) feature provides an innovative approach to container security. By dynamically assessing container risk to monitor runtime behavior before deployment, DTA provides real-time threat detection and response capabilities to prevent attacks without disrupting production.
A comprehensive approach to container security
Securing containers is what Aqua was built on, it is where we started, what we do and has been our focus for over eight years and we have industry accolades that show it, including the 2023 CISO Choice Award and the CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards.
Our approach to container security emphasizes a comprehensive focus on the entire container lifecycle, ensuring that security measures are integrated seamlessly from development to production environments. Aqua has been a leader in the industry since its inception in 2015, and this recognition not only validates our continued leadership in the market but also highlights the amazing innovation our team brings to the industry. Container security is a rapidly evolving space, and companies need solutions that can go beyond visibility for true cloud native protection. That’s why we’ve focused our efforts on building capabilities to see and stop attacks, especially in complex container-based environments.
It is also why GigaOm declared “(It is) Aqua Security’s rate of innovation and breadth of core feature set that earned them an Outperformer designation and placed them into the Leaders circle.”
Explore the GigaOm Radar for Container Security report for a deeper understanding of our capabilities.