Palo Alto Networks this month stepped up to address AppSec concerns around cloud native security with a new set of CI/CD security capabilities for its Prisma Cloud offering. Let’s go deeper on what was announced and why it’s important.
CI/CD Security by Prisma Cloud
In response to the rising adoption of cloud-native technologies, and the associated security risks, the industry has adopted an approach to cloud-native security called CNAPP – cloud-native application protection platform. CNAPP simplifies the monitoring and security of cloud-native applications by unifying multiple disparate security capabilities to protect the full lifecycle of cloud-native applications.
Palo Alto Networks brings CNAPP to life by introducing new CI/CD security capabilities into its flagship Prisma Cloud offering. The new CI/CD security capabilities provide an integrated and unified view of an organization’s entire cloud-native pipeline, allowing for unmatched visibility and protection for a cloud-native engineering ecosystem.
Unified Application Security Dashboard
One of the biggest challenges of managing any IT infrastructure is the ability to simply see what’s happening. This problem is amplified in the cloud-native software development world, where code is managed across a range of systems with a range of system-specific security scanners while often relying on upstream packages that are out of your control. Prisma Cloud addresses this with its new Application Security Dashboard.
The Primsa Cloud Application Security Dashboard provides a unified view of an organization’s cloud-native engineering ecosystem. The dashboard normalizes signals from the code scanners already in use to provide a centralized view of risk.
With the new CI/CD security features, Prisma Cloud now gives AppSec teams a single-pane-of-glass view across code repositories, contributors, technologies used, and the connected pipelines. Teams can more easily prioritize risks with a complete infrastructure view that fully understands which code repositories and pipelines are connected to production systems. It’s a really nice capability.
Attack Path Analysis
Graph databases are designed to derive and understand relationships between multiple pieces of data. In the cybersecurity world, graph databases allow for rapid, simultaneous correlation between multiple signals to quickly identify threats and map the pathway of an attack. The Prisma Cloud Application Graph is an ideal example of using graph database technology to enhance the security of cloud-native pipelines.
The Prisma Cloud Application Graph analyzes the entire ecosystem, correlating disparate signals across codebases, scanners, and orchestration and automation tools to provide centralized visibility and control across workflows. This allows AppSec teams to untangle often-complex relationships to pinpoint risks and understand the breach pathways to critical assets.
The dynamic view across the engineering ecosystem allows administrators and AppSec teams to better understand and analyze the environment. This is a crucial capability for cloud-native delivery.
Analyst’s Take
Palo Alto Networks is investing aggressively in technologies to secure the cloud, all delivered as part of Palo Alto’s Prisma Cloud offering. This latest update extends those capabilities to include securing the cloud-native workflows that underpin modern application delivery.
Securing the software supply chain is a foundational step in application security. The powerful capabilities of cloud-native technologies are changing how applications are built and deployed. At the same time, the nature of the process opens the door to malicious exploits. Indeed, the number of attacks on cloud-native applications is rapidly growing.
Securing an infrastructure, whether physical or cloud-native, starts with simplifying the process. Palo Alto Networks does this with its unified CI/CD security approach, bringing together not just Palo Alto’s security technology but also integrating the scanners that DevOps teams are already using. As simple as this sounds, it’s incredibly powerful.
