Infrastructure Security
Understanding Containers and Containerization
Containers are lightweight, portable, and self-sufficient units that encapsulate an application and its dependencies, allowing it to run consistently and reliably across different computing environments.
Containerization, on the other hand, is using containers to package and deploy applications, isolating them from the host system and ensuring consistency in their behavior regardless of the environment in which they are run.
Containerization technology, popularized by platforms like Docker, abstracts applications from the infrastructure on which they run.
Each container includes everything the application needs to operate, including the code, runtime, system tools, libraries, and settings, thus eliminating the traditional "it works on my machine" problem often encountered in software development and deployment.
By employing containers, developers can streamline the process of building, packaging, and deploying applications, facilitating consistent and reliable software delivery across different environments, from development and testing to staging and production.
Furthermore, containers enable efficient resource utilization by allowing multiple isolated applications to run on a single host without interfering with one another.
The ability to encapsulate applications and their dependencies in a self-contained unit, leverage consistent deployment across diverse environments, and facilitate efficient resource utilization makes containerization technology a valuable asset in contemporary software engineering and IT operations.
Security Concerns with Containers
The primary security concern with containers is the risk of malicious actors exploiting vulnerabilities within the containerized environment. Containers share the same operating system kernel, and an attack on one container could potentially compromise other containers on the same host if not properly isolated.
Validating the integrity and authenticity of container images is essential. Compromised or tampered container images can be deployed without proper measures, leading to potential security breaches.
Securing Containers
Image Security: Use official and trusted images from reputable sources like a container registry [Docker Hub]. Regularly update and patch container images to mitigate known vulnerabilities. Implement image signing and verification to ensure the integrity and authenticity of container images.
Container Isolation: Strong isolation mechanisms should be utilized, such as running containers in their user namespaces and employing technologies like Docker's default seccomp and AppArmor profiles.
Access Control and Privilege Management: Implement the principle of least privilege by restricting container permissions and capabilities. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to limit access to critical container resources.
Network Security: Utilize network segmentation and isolation to prevent unauthorized container access. Implement network policies and firewalls to control traffic between containers and other network endpoints.
Continuous Monitoring and Logging: Employ robust monitoring and logging tools to detect and respond to security incidents in real-time. Implement centralized logging to track container activities and identify potential security threats.
Secure Host Environment: Ensure the underlying host system is hardened and securely configured to prevent unauthorized access and potential attacks on containers.
Physical Environment Security Concerns
Hyperjacking occurs when a malicious attacker takes control of the hypervisor and creates the virtual environment within a virtual machine (VM) host. The attacker installs a malicious hypervisor that manages the entire server system. The OS will not be aware if the machine is comprised. It represents a single point of failure. Mitigation Techniques include keeping the Security management of a hypervisor separate from regular traffic. The Guest OS should never have access to the hypervisor. Patch management. Example: VENOM
A Side-Channel Attack is based on information gained from implementing a computer system rather than weaknesses in the implemented algorithm. There are several types of Side-Channel Attacks. Cache attacks are attacks based on the attacker's ability to monitor cache accesses made by the victim in a shared physical system, such as a virtualized environment or a cloud service. Timing attacks are Attacks based on measuring how much time various computations take to perform. For example, Compare an attacker's given password with the victim's unknown one.
Understanding Hypervisors
Hypervisors, or virtual machine monitors (VMM), are software, firmware, or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. These virtual machines are isolated environments that can run their operating systems and applications, allowing multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on a single physical machine.
There are two types of hypervisors:
Type 1, also known as bare-metal hypervisors, runs directly on the host's hardware to control the hardware and manage guest operating systems.
Type 2, or hosted hypervisors, run within a conventional operating system environment. Both types provide the essential abstraction layer between the physical hardware and the virtualized guest operating systems.
Hypervisors facilitate server virtualization, allowing businesses to consolidate multiple physical servers onto a single piece of hardware. This leads to cost savings, improved resource utilization, and easier management. Additionally, hypervisors are widely used in cloud computing environments to enable the efficient and flexible allocation of computing resources.
