Containers - Security and Isolation

Study Notes

Container security is important because they offer inherent security advantages, but they can also expand an organization's attack surface.
To protect container security, the container host's security must be robust. This includes the host operating system, the operating system kernel, and the underlying hardware.
Container network traffic must be authenticated and encrypted to guarantee security. Container application behavior must be monitored. If any suspicious behavior is detected, the container is considered risky and should be shut down immediately.
Container image integrity is also very important. The container image needs to be scanned for potential vulnerabilities, then the risks must be removed while ensuring image integrity with encryption and verification with Intel Security Libraries.
Intel technology provides full-stack platform security for container hosts. This platform secures the underlying hardware and secures the operating system kernel.
Container management is a complex process that requires proper configuration and security measures.
Kubernetes is a popular container management platform, but it requires proper configuration and security measures.
For the security of Kubernetes and the container, the security context and configuration are very important.
In Intel Kata Containers, each application container gets its own isolated kernel. This provides stronger isolation than traditional container models.
Intel SGX technology is a key ingredient in a Graphene Secure Container solution.
SGX provides strong isolation and security for data at rest.
Intel SGX Confidential Computing technology is used to convert an untrusted application container image into a secure confidential container image.
The container image is then able to run inside a secure enclave based on Intel SGX.
The enclave isolates the application code, data, and its libraries to provide strong isolation and security.
Intel Security Libraries container attestation verifies the container image to guarantee its integrity.
The Intel Kata agent interacts with Intel Security Libraries to attest the trust-executing environment and the integrity of the encrypted image.