Container Security: Scenario-Based Questions

Securing container images and registries is critical to protecting the supply chain. Vulnerabilities or misconfigurations in container workflows can lead to system compromise or data leakage.

🔐 Image Security Practices

• Use minimal base images (e.g., distroless, alpine) to reduce attack surface.
• Perform static image scans using tools like Trivy, Grype, or Clair.
• Pin versions in Dockerfile to avoid unexpected updates and drift.
• Run as non-root inside containers and avoid privileged mode unless necessary.

🏢 Registry Security

• Use private, authenticated registries (e.g., Amazon ECR, Google Artifact Registry, Harbor).
• Enable image signing and verification using tools like cosign, Notary, or Sigstore.
• Restrict access with fine-grained IAM policies for pull/push operations.
• Scan all images upon upload and block deployments with critical CVEs.

🧪 Deployment Controls

• Enforce admission policies using tools like OPA/Gatekeeper or Kyverno.
• Integrate image scanning into CI pipelines before push.
• Implement runtime protection with container-aware firewalls or agents (e.g., Falco, Sysdig Secure).

✅ Best Practices

• Use multi-stage builds to exclude dev/test dependencies from production images.
• Regularly rotate credentials used for accessing registries.
• Tag images clearly by environment or build version (e.g., v1.3.7-prod).

🚫 Common Pitfalls

• Using :latest tag — unpredictable and unsafe for deployments.
• Allowing broad IAM permissions for write access to container registries.
• Skipping image scanning in air-gapped or disconnected environments.

📌 Real-World Insight

With the rise of supply chain attacks, container security has moved to the top of the DevSecOps agenda. Companies that invest in image hygiene, signed builds, and policy enforcement reduce attack vectors dramatically.