Improve Cloud-Native Security With an Internal Developer Platform

Cloud-native technologies are transforming business operations with scalable, efficient applications, but also introduce complex security challenges. As organizations rapidly adopt these technologies, they face new vulnerabilities that traditional security measures struggle to address. According to Palo Alto’s 2024 cloud-native security report, 61% of organizations fear AI-powered attacks on sensitive data, while 33% are overwhelmed by the pace of evolving threats and technology changes.

The shift to cloud computing means that while providers handle infrastructure security, organizations remain responsible for protecting data. This gap creates significant risks, exposing businesses to potential data breaches and operational disruptions.

Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) emerge as critical solutions, embedding security best practices directly into the development process. By standardizing secure environments, offering a single place to monitor the company’s runtime, and automating security tasks, IDPs help mitigate these risks, offering a streamlined approach to safeguarding cloud-native applications. This article explores how IDPs can address these pressing security challenges effectively.

What does cloud-native security mean?

Cloud-native security is an approach to security specifically designed for applications developed and distributed in the cloud. It focuses on projecting dynamic and scalable architectures such as microservices, containers, and orchestrators.
Consequently, security must be integrated into every layer of the cloud-native stack to ensure these systems remain resilient against threats.

Understanding exactly where responsibilities fall is important in protecting cloud-native infrastructure. Unfortunately, many organizations fail to do this.

There are a series of common problems, such as the lack of critical patches, the potential compromise of accounts, the public exposure of cloud storage services, and the acceptance of traffic towards pods from any source. It is forecasted that until 2025, at least 99% of cloud failures will be the client’s fault.

Security is not just a technical necessity—it is a business imperative. Without a strong focus on cloud-native security, organizations risk exposing themselves to threats that can have significant financial and operational consequences.

Cloud-native application security’s key characteristics

Cloud-native security includes various strategies and tools designed to protect applications built in and for the cloud environment. Below are its essential characteristics.

• Zero-trust security: This key security concept operates on the assumption that threats could be internal or external; hence, nothing within the network is automatically trusted. This means every access request, regardless of origin, undergoes rigorous identity verification before granting permission. This helps prevent breaches by ensuring strict access controls and user authentication.
• Micro-segmentation: The network is divided into smaller segments and controls their accesses to limit attack possibilities and contain risks. Each segment has access controls, ensuring that even if a malicious actor gains access to one part of the network, they cannot move laterally to other areas.
• Containers: Containers are an integral part of the cloud, as they execute applications and their dependencies in an isolated way. By making it possible to control container interactions, the cloud can be more secure.
• Security of the CI/CD pipeline: Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines facilitate rapid software development and deployment. Securing the CI/CD pipeline involves implementing automated security checks and threat modeling at every phase of software development. This includes securely managing and rotating secrets and credentials, running dynamic and static code analysis to detect.
• Continuous monitoring and continuous logging: Being able to constantly observe activity on running cloud applications to find suspicious activity helps handle risks in real time and understand how to improve security measures.

Cloud-native security vs. traditional security tools

Cloud-native security vs. traditional security tools

Cloud-native security solutions are not an addition to traditional security. Instead, it represents the evolution of traditional on-premise environments as they face the unique challenges and opportunities offered by cloud computing.

Traditional security tools focus on securing static, on-premise infrastructure, relying on defenses such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems. In contrast, cloud-native security solutions must protect dynamic and distributed environments, such as microservices and containers, where the security perimeter constantly shifts.

Unlike traditional security tools that often struggle to meet the growing demands of cloud environments, cloud-native security is built to automatically scale alongside the infrastructure.

Internal Developer Platforms are designed for the cloud and have strong security monitoring capabilities. In contrast, cloud-hosted solutions refer to traditional applications that have been moved to the cloud but were not originally designed for it. As a result, cloud-hosted solutions may face challenges adapting to these unique security needs.

Cloud-native security is built to be proactive and flexible, integrating security directly into the development and operational processes to prevent vulnerabilities from the start. These solutions are designed to adjust security measures as needed, but doing so after the fact can leave gaps and weaken defenses.

The 4 C’s of cloud-native security

Cloud-native security is based on four main levels: Code, Container, Cluster, and Cloud. Each level communicates and requires specific security measures to protect data and applications, guaranteeing the overall security of the cloud-native application.

4 C’s of Cloud-Native Security

Code

• Many threats reside in code. Code review is essential to prevent them, as it can identify vulnerabilities and bugs in source code and monitor software dependencies to avoid vulnerabilities in third-party libraries. Most teams integrate automated code reviews into their CI/CD pipeline to catch vulnerabilities early in the development process.
• At the same time, security teams can monitor code through statistical analysis tools to find threats during development and testing. Overall, adopting secure programming best practices, such as input validation and error handling, is also a way to guarantee code security.

Container

• One of the areas that demand the most rigorous attention when discussing cloud-native security is container security. Containers, which deploy applications within cloud-native architectures, need to protect the systems they operate within. Container security largely depends on trusted images, which means only verified container images from secure repositories should be used.
• Isolation is another aspect designed to prevent a compromise in one container from spreading to others. Additionally, container scanning can help identify container vulnerabilities and maintain image security throughout the entire lifecycle.

Cluster

• Cluster orchestrators such as Kubernetes need to be configured securely, including using robust authentication and authorization.
• Good network policies can help control traffic among cluster nodes and limit unnecessary communications, but traffic monitoring through logging can also detect suspicious activities and anomalies.

Cloud

• Cloud-native security tools focus on key areas such as role-based access control, data security compliance with governance standards, monitoring and incident response. These tools ensure secure access management and help maintain the integrity of cloud environments.

Major cloud security challenges

Cloud environments also bring on cloud security challenges:

• Data violation, one of the biggest challenges, happens when sensitive data is exposed or stolen due to external attacks, wrong configurations, or system vulnerabilities. This leads to loss of personal and company data, reputational damage, and fines for non-conformance to GDPR policies.
• Reduced visibility and control: When resources and operations are moved to the cloud, organizations lose visibility and control, and sometimes, they cannot execute monitoring and analysis of information on services, data, and users with their tools.
• Poor self-service management: The provisioning of self-service functionalities allows additional services without IT approval. The use of non-authorized cloud services can lead to more malware infections and reduce an organization’s visibility and control over its data.
• Incomplete data deletion: When clients have limited visibility into data storage locations, organizations may not be able to confirm that their data has been securely deleted.

Benefits and risks of cloud-native technologies

Cloud-native technologies are being increasingly adopted due to their numerous benefits. In this section, we’ll see both the advantages and risks of cloud-native technologies.

Benefits of cloud-native technologies

From minimal costs to improved collaboration, cloud-native technologies have multiple benefits. We will list the key ones below:

• Minimal costs: Cloud resources allow companies to avoid the purchase and maintenance costs of local hardware and software. At the same time, cloud solutions have limitless computational power concerning cloud-hosted and on-premise systems. Cloud-native solutions don’t have limitations in terms of scalability, resource allocations, or performance bottlenecks, leading to the most efficient solution possible.
• More flexibility: Microservices in cloud infrastructure can be redimensioned independently, allowing the update of some software program components without updating the entire application. Cloud-native apps offer flexible implementation in the whole network and are easier to develop and iterate.
• More reliable: Using containers and cloud-native applications means that when a microservice breaks down, a cloud-native application can continue to function with minimal downtime, through various mechanisms. This dynamic nature shows the cloud’s ability to automatically spin up new instances, redistribute workloads using load balancers, and recover from failures with minimal human intervention. This process ensures minimal downtime by rapidly replacing or replicating failed services.
• Scalability: Cloud-native technologies use the infrastructure defined by the software to reduce the minimum dependence on hardware, adding other base services that allow horizontal scalability.
• Collaborative DevOps: DevOps development, based on Agile and Lean principles, is a new methodology in which developers and operations managers constantly work together throughout the development lifecycle. This collaboration ensures that the applicative code and the service functionalities are closely aligned, allowing faster development and more reliable updates. In simpler terms, DevOps breaks down the barriers between writing code and deploying services, enabling teams to deliver software more efficiently.
• Modular architecture and microservices: Working with microservices allows more rapid and simplified updates. It is possible to act on the microservice to improve or correct a function, to build a new one, or to delete it. Microservices enable updates to be carried out without the need to halt the entire application that is in production.

Specific advantages for business and developers

For businesses and developers, the benefits of cloud-native technologies target specific business needs, as cloud-native architectures are built to be easily scalable and handle increasing workloads, dynamically allocating resources based on what the user requires.

In other words, as the business grows and updates, any platform can be easily adapted to handle increasing volumes of data and user interaction.

At the same time, cloud-native ecosystems are built to be highly resilient, as they incorporate mechanisms of tolerance to security incidents and processes of automatic restoration. Consequently, inactivity times are minimal, and continuous operations are guaranteed.

Security risks in cloud-native environments

One of the main risks in cloud-native environments is the lack of experience in cloud security, along with traditional security company policies that do not consider the cloud.

As a consequence, if left unattended, wrong configurations can be easily exploited as security vulnerabilities, for example, when workloads and cloud traffic are inadequately monitored.

Furthermore, users can have more privileges than they need, increasing the risks tied to identity and access management to compromise legitimate credentials.

There are many methods of attacking an organization’s cloud environment through shift-left movement. Shift-left movement poses a significant security risk in an organization’s cloud environment. This rapid escalation highlights the need for robust security measures at all entry points.

Role of an IDP in cloud-native security

An IDP enhances cloud-native security by providing tools that minimize vulnerabilities. The key roles of an IDP in cloud-native security include:

1. Paving golden paths for secure development and deployment
   An IDP paves predefined paths and security that guide developers through the development and distribution processes while adhering to established security standards. This approach helps minimize human errors and ensures consistent application of security practices. The platform typically features automated tools for static and dynamic code analysis, which enforce security compliance and offer real-time feedback.Additionally, it may include monitoring systems that track security throughout the lifecycle, allowing developers to promptly address potential vulnerabilities and maintain a high standard of security from development to deployment.
2. Composing software components pre-tested for security
   IDPs offer software component libraries that have already been tested and comply with security certificates. Developers can use these components as application construction blocks, reducing code vulnerability threats. Usually, these components also have automation tools for vulnerability management, such as scanners and code analysis, in CI/CD development.
3. Ensuring security by design
   Integrating security from the development phases, IDPs promote a culture in which security is a priority, equal to the functional requirements of the planning and software development process. In this context, developers are educated on security practices and how to use the resources an IDP offers to the maximum.
4. Monitoring, alert, log, and observability tools integrated into the IDP to enhance security
   IDPs integrate monitoring, alerting, logging, and observability tools to ensure security and operational efficiency. By simplifying access to resources and automating tasks, IDPs enhance developer productivity while maintaining system integrity and security.This approach allows the creation of intrinsically secure products, challenging the traditional view, according to which security is considered only when the project is concluded.

Implementation strategies and the case of Rönd

Rönd is an open-source, distributed security enforcement solution for APIs. It provides a robust authorization mechanism based on Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). This allows companies to efficiently manage permissions, roles, and user groups to ensure enhanced security.

Built on top of Open Policy Agent and leveraging the Rego language, Rönd manages security by implementing authorization checks in a distributed system, using the Sidecar Container Pattern to eliminate single points of failure. This means that every incoming API request is checked by a sidecar container, which ensures that only authorized requests reach the core microservice.

With Rönd, it is possible to define clear, centralized security policies without embedding endless controls in your codebase.

Conclusion

By integrating an IDP, organizations can significantly improve their cloud-native applications, promote secure development practices, and reduce the risks associated with human errors and software vulnerabilities.
To make your organization more secure, check out how to evolve into a Platform Company.