Kubernetes Security is the Future of Cloud Security

By 2025, securing Kubernetes (K8s) will be recognized as the most important aspect of cloud security. In the most successful organizations, CTOs and CISOs already understand the importance of Kubernetes security. But while Kubernetes already accounts for a significant proportion of cloud spend by CTOs, CISOs are still catching up. Most CISOs are still focused on the zero-trust model–however, they’ll soon realize that they’re running a significant portion of their PCI-regulated workloads in Kubernetes and therefore need to shift their thinking.

We’re in year eight of Kubernetes. IBM reported that their biggest deals and their fastest growing revenue comes from their managed K8s platform, OpenShift. Some “old school” virtualization technologies like vSphere and ESXi are still widely in use today. But they’ve hit a level of maturity and adoption that makes customers wonder, “What else are we going to use?”

Step 1 of 7

14%

Which of the following best describes how you currently monitor and manage systems across your hybrid cloud environment?(Required)

Multiple separate tools for different environments

Multiple separate tools for different monitoring and management functions

Single consolidated dashboard

Custom built monitoring and management solution

No full monitoring and management solution

Don’t know

How valuable would it be for your monitoring and management solution to incorporate predictive analytics to help you identify and address system issues that are critical and not waste time or effort working through all the data and “noise” that is not critical?(Required)

Extremely valuable

Moderately valuable

Somewhat valuable

Slightly valuable

Not valuable

How do you most typically address potential system issues BEFORE they impact your operations?(Required)

Automated workflows and playbooks to remediate potential issues as soon as they are detected

An orchestrated response process that leverages automation, AI, and human expertise to rapidly respond to potential issues

Advanced monitoring tools such as predictive analytics and anomaly detection to proactively identify and address potential issues

Respond to issues as they arise, using manual processes and troubleshooting techniques

A combination of automated remediation, orchestrated response, and/or proactive monitoring to address potential system issues

Don’t know

Other

What methods does your organization use to control and monitor cloud/IT spending?(Required)

Centralized procurement processes

Pre-approved budget thresholds

Automated cost monitoring tools

Department-level spending controls

Regular cost audits and reviews

Cloud cost optimization platform

Approval workflows for resource provisioning

Native financial operations tools provided by the cloud provider

No formal controls in place

Don’t know

Other

Please specify:

Which methods do you rely on most to detect security vulnerabilities in your systems?(Required)

Automated scanning tools

Manual assessments

Vendor notifications

Threat modeling (for early detection)

None of these

Don’t know

Other

Please specify:

What are the TWO most common ways you prioritize vulnerabilities to address within your environment?(Required)

Based on potential impact

Based on exploitability

Regulatory compliance requirements

Based on CVSS scores

Risk-based analysis of multiple factors

First-in-first-out approach

No formal prioritization process

Don’t know

How do you typically handle system updates and security patches?(Required)

Automated updates and patches

Manually review and apply updates and patches on a regular schedule

A combination of automation and manual review

Apply updates and patches on an as-needed basis.

Outsourced update and patch management

No defined process

Don’t know

Other

Δ

Kubernetes has now hit that point, too. Legacy CISOs who aren’t focused on securing Kubernetes will be phased out in favor of CTO-style CISOs who are more technical, deeply involved in platform engineering and involved in AppSec. What is known as DevOps is nearly 100% powered by Kubernetes. Modern infrastructure means that K8s isn’t a line item anymore–it’s critical. Job changes are coming in the next two years. Soon you will start to see newcomer CISOs who take more of a CTO-like angle. This CISO is more technical and deeply involved in platform engineering and AppSec – which means securing DevOps and, specifically, securing Kubernetes.

But why are CTOs all-in on Kubernetes? Beyond security, it often comes down to developer efficiency. Their business needs to ship things faster and the way that they did things before had cruft, with legacy systems stacked on legacy systems. Everything simply took longer–and reliability suffered. But Kubernetes is the ultimate reset. CTOs know they can take every app they have and run it as a container, and therefore have smaller teams working on smaller chunks. So, instead of a cumbersome vote-by-committee process, you have a small team working on one thing for two weeks that then ships automatically. CTOs know customers expect features to come out the minute they’re done and that the speed and efficiency of K8s means that they can move as fast–or faster–than their competitors. CTOs understand that by spending less and by putting in more compute infrastructure (and doing more with less on the platform side) they can consolidate the platform team into one API.

Now is the time for CISOs to think like CTOs. Since they’re responsible for endpoint protection, data protection and compliance, it makes sense that K8s might not be the CISO’s top initiative. But by 2025, CISO and CTO goals will be aligned around business priorities to include more secure DevOps–which requires more secure K8s. And more secure Kubernetes requires tools that make securing containerized infrastructures easier and more effective by assessing and detecting issues with Kubernetes environments in real-time.