As enterprises move toward container-first infrastructures, a recent survey paints a telling picture of the security challenges they’re encountering along the way. With microservices having quickly become deeply entrenched in production-critical workloads, security leaders are facing serious challenges in compliance, visibility, and vulnerability management. The survey highlights that 78% of organizations risk failing compliance audits due to unresolved Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) within their container environments.
The survey, which gathered responses from DevSecOps leaders and industry professionals, indicates a widespread concern regarding security practices in containerization. But today, more than 90% of environments have virtually no visibility into the deeper layers of their container images. This major flaw severely limits our ability to make good security the default. No wonder 100% of DevSecOps leaders say containerization is key to their production strategy. This further showcases its importance as a must-have practice in today’s rapidly changing software delivery landscape.
The Compliance Audit Dilemma
The time consuming and often frustrating issue of compliance is the most visible challenge for many of those large organizations. A shocking 78% of respondents feel their organizations are in peril of failing compliance audits. This risk comes from CVEs that have not been remediated in their overall container footprint. These kinds of failures not only risk the fairness of our systems, but can result in enormous fiscal and reputational harm.
Additionally, 87% of the survey respondents expect a container-specific security incident at least once a year. This expectation masks a troubling trend of the most common base images being found at the source of vulnerabilities. In fact, 83% of leaders pinpoint outdated base images as a significant factor contributing to their most recent security breaches. These images force us to reconsider the impact of our existing security requirements. We must take a long view on remediation, looking at proactive remediation measures to mitigate these concerns.
Seventy percent of containers have a lifetime of five minutes or less. This transitory life span poses a distinct challenge for security assurance. With this ephemeral nature, it is challenging for teams to address traditional security measures in a meaningful way. DevSecOps teams need to rethink their strategies to account for these quicker releases while ensuring compliance and security integrity.
Visibility and Vulnerability Management
Lack of transparency into container images is a huge challenge for organizations trying to achieve an ideal state of security. More than 90% of environments can’t even monitor the deeper layers of container images. This leaves them vulnerable to more insidious threats that fly under the radar. This lack of transparency makes the remediation timeline even more difficult to manage, increasing the likelihood of damaging security incidents.
To add to these challenges, many development teams are still using unverified images and open-source packages at an alarming rate. Around 90% of respondents even confessed to taking these resources from public registries without proper vetting. This practice compounds the danger of introducing experimental, beta quality or generally risky components into production environments, sometimes resulting in catastrophic security disasters.
All is not lost – there is hope on the horizon. The survey found that a 60-99% reduction in CVEs is achievable while reclaiming up to 30% of developer time dedicated to delivering and innovating solutions. That efficiency is possible by employing better security hygiene and the inclusion of modern remediation practices.
The Role of External Partners and AI
Engaging external partners can significantly reduce the burden on DevSecOps teams. This partnership helps them to improve their security posture while enabling them to better serve and protect their communities. By collaborating with experienced vendors, organizations can streamline remediation efforts and implement effective security strategies tailored to their specific needs.
Furthermore, nearly 95% of DevSecOps leaders foresee AI and intelligent remediation playing a pivotal role in the future of secure software delivery. Organizations are becoming increasingly dependent on automation to help them keep vulnerabilities at bay. By incorporating AI-powered tools, they can enhance their detection abilities and minimize the risk of human error.
Some industry experts caution that shifting left—an approach aimed at integrating security earlier in the development process—can inadvertently place additional pressure on already overextended engineering teams. Organizations need to navigate this new frontier with the right resources and support behind them. This paradigm shift will ensure that security doesn’t one day become the impossible task.