CNAPP, which stands for Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform, is a unified and integrated security solution designed to protect the entire lifecycle of cloud-native applications, from development to production.
CNAPP changes the cloud security game by addressing the challenges of a fragmented security approach and bringing multiple functionalities together into a single platform.
How CNAPP changes cloud security
- Unified Approach: Before CNAPP, companies needed multiple security tools—one for cloud security posture management (CSPM), another for cloud workload protection (CWPP), and yet another for cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM). CNAPP consolidates all these functions into a single platform, simplifying management and improving visibility.
- Integrated Lifecycle Security: CNAPP adopts the principle of “shifting left,” which means integrating security into the earliest stages of the development process (DevSecOps). By scanning code and configurations during the build phase, CNAPP identifies vulnerabilities before they reach production, enabling faster and more efficient remediation.
- Comprehensive, Contextual Visibility: CNAPP correlates data from multiple sources, such as code vulnerabilities, infrastructure misconfigurations, and suspicious runtime activity. This allows security teams to understand the actual risk in context, prioritizing the most critical threats instead of dealing with isolated alerts.
- Broad Coverage: The platform protects all parts of a cloud-native environment, including:
- Containerized workloads and virtual machines.
- Runtime environments.
- Infrastructure configurations (CSPM).
- Access rights and entitlement management (CIEM).
- Automation and Efficiency: With integrated automation, CNAPP simplifies repetitive security tasks, such as applying policies and remediating issues. This reduces manual effort and the potential for human error, allowing teams to focus on more strategic initiatives.
- Adaptability for Modern Environments: Traditional security tools were not designed for the dynamic, distributed nature of cloud-native architectures, which utilize microservices, containers, and serverless functions. CNAPP, on the other hand, was built specifically to protect these complex environments, adapting to their scale and speed