Application Security

The Top 10 Runtime Security Tools

Explore the top Runtime Security Tools offering real-time threat detection, anomaly detection, and response capabilities to protect applications and infrastructure during runtime.

The Top 10 Runtime Security Tools include:
  • 1. Aqua Security CWPP
  • 2. Check Point CloudGuard for Workload Protection
  • 3. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security CWP
  • 4. Lacework CNAPP
  • 5. Microsoft Defender for Cloud
  • 6. Orca Security CWPP
  • 7. Palo Alto Prisma Cloud CWPP
  • 8. Sysdig Secure
  • 9. Trend Micro Trend Vision One
  • 10. Wiz Runtime Sensor

Runtime security tools are designed to monitor, identify, and prevent security threats that occur while workloads are in operation. These tools are important elements within today’s cyber threat landscape for detecting exploits, malware, and other malicious activities that might otherwise go unnoticed during the execution of an application.

The marketplace is full of vendors offering runtime security tools, each one with unique benefits and capabilities. While some platforms are designed to secure specific environments like container or serverless applications, others provide a wide range of functionalities including micro-segmentation, threat detection, and intrusion prevention. These solutions can be standalone or part of a broader security suite, integrated with other security controls for comprehensive protection. 

In this article, we will explore the top runtime security tools currently available. We’ll evaluate their features and capabilities, their ease of deployment and use, and their efficacy in real-world environments based on our technical specifications and user feedback.

Aqua Logo

Aqua Security CWPP is a comprehensive security platform designed to protect cloud-based workloads across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. This platform offers real-time behavioral detection to block harmful malware from cloud native workloads, while preventing drift and ensuring immutability.

Aqua Security CWPP’s offers granular visibility for all cloud-native workloads, with an automatic incident timeline creation feature for swift understanding of workload activities. This platform aids in the detection of suspicious activities and the prevention of malicious attacks through real-time policy controls, integrated with a lightweight agent to maintain application performance. Beyond these basic functions, other strengths of Aqua Security CWPP involve multi-layered runtime protection for workloads, including behavioral and signature-based detection backed by eBPF technology and Team Nautilus. This solution utilizes these features to detect suspicious behavior patterns and Indicators of Compromise (IoCs).

Aqua Security CWPP offers a robust solution to secure cloud-based workloads, providing extensive visibility and customization to effectively monitor and prevent malicious activities. This multi-layered runtime protection, coupled with real-time behavioral detection and policy controls, makes it a powerful and resilient security tool for diverse and hybrid cloud environments.

Aqua Logo
Check Point Logo

Check Point provides a cloud-native cybersecurity solution, CloudGuard, that offers a comprehensive, fully-automated platform for workload security. This AI-powered tool extends visibility, compliance, and threat prevention across applications, APIs, and microservices, covering serverless functions and Kubernetes containers in all stages of development and runtime.

CloudGuard is designed to ensure the secure operation of applications and microservices, adhering to zero-trust principles. It automatically includes security measures within the DevOps pipeline, offering protection across multiple cloud platforms and various workload architectures. It also provides Image Assurance, which gives real-time visibility into the integrity of images and enables rapid response to potential threats, as well as Admission Control for delivering policy-based access control for workloads operating in Kubernetes. The purpose of this function is to guard against unauthorized access, malicious threats, and possible data infiltration by offering granular control over access by different workloads as well as the internet. The automation capability continuously monitors and maintains the security position of Kubernetes clusters and workloads.

CloudGuard provides a robust, AI-powered, and comprehensive security platform, ensuring comprehensive workload protection across diverse environments. This feature-rich solution gives organizations a high degree of visibility, control, and responsiveness, helping to prevent threats and maintain compliance.

Check Point Logo
Crowdstrike Logo

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is a cybersecurity tool aimed at ensuring cloud workload and endpoint security. It offers threat intelligence and effective response to cyberattacks.

With a focus on halting cloud breaches, CrowdStrike Falcon provides comprehensive visibility and protection for various systems. Be it Linux or Windows hosts, containers, and Kubernetes, or even serverless compute like AWS Fargate, the solution offers real-time and runtime visibility. The CrowdStrike Threat Graph combines endpoint and workload telemetry, threat intelligence, and AI-powered analytics to stop zero-day threats instantly. CrowdStrike Falcon allows users to rapidly detect vulnerabilities and manage risks within the cloud workloads, containers, images, and registries. This is coupled with its ability to identify vulnerabilities prior to production by assessing images, enabling organizations to improve their security processes while saving time. It also continues monitoring for new vulnerabilities at runtime and can take actions without the need to rescan.

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security’s strength lies in real-time threat monitoring, comprehensive visibility, and a continuous vulnerability detection system. These features make the solution a reliable tool for businesses aiming to secure their cloud environment, enhancing their operational agility and response capabilities.

Crowdstrike Logo
Lacework Logo

Lacework is a cloud security platform which delivers full spectrum visibility across your cloud environment. The platform captures cloud activity, recognizing threats, vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and unusual actions, empowering businesses to operate securely.

Lacework’s Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) ensures safety from initialization right through to runtime of your cloud. It efficiently interprets data across your cloud to guarantee a secure environment. Priority is given to risk reduction by linking data across your entire network, including considerations for misconfigurations linked to confidential databases in production. In this solution, threat detection is behavior-based. It automatically creates a baseline of your regular cloud activity and identifies significant risks that are relevant to your environment.

Lacework aims to provide a unified experience, seamless deployment, and powerful automation. The platform creates a secure, efficient, and streamlined cloud environment which compliments your security team’s work rather than adding to their to-do list. The advanced Polygraph Data Platform can understand operational intent and raises alerts if any deviation is identified.

Lacework Logo
Microsoft Logo

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a cybersecurity solution that provides comprehensive protection for containerized assets across multicloud and hybrid environments, from development to runtime. It is designed to enhance, monitor, and manage security for Kubernetes clusters, nodes, workloads, container registries, and more in both cloud and on-premises environments.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud includes continuous monitoring and security posture management. It offers complete visibility across various cloud environments, prioritizes critical risks with context-based insights, and facilitates large-scale remediation from code to cloud with built-in workflows. It is equipped with cyber-attack-path analysis, workload protection, vulnerability scanning, and compliance with regulations to further enhance security.

Additionally, Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides a unified solution for DevOps security management across multicloud and multi-pipeline environments. This helps keep cloud applications secure from the start. The platform also features infrastructure-as-code security and code security guidance, which allows for further strengthening of security posture.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a flexible tool that aids in reducing risk, enabling protection against cyberthreats, and strengthening security posture. Its robust functionalities and comprehensive protection make it a go-to solution for organizations seeking advanced security for their cloud and containerized assets.

Microsoft Logo
Orca Logo

Orca Security CWPP is an agentless, Cloud Workload Protection Platform designed to secure VMs, containers, and Kubernetes with broad and deep visibility into all possible cloud risks but without the high operational costs of installing and managing agents. This security solution performs numerous security checks at every level of your cloud, without requiring separate agents for each service.

Key features of Orca include the ability to gather data directly from your cloud configuration and the workload’s runtime block storage out-of-band. Within minutes, Orca CWPP can locate and prioritize your most critical cloud risks, including vulnerabilities, malware, misconfigurations, lateral movement risks and sensitive data at risk. Orca Security CWPP extends its benefits through cloud-native vulnerability management where it creates a full inventory of your cloud environment and uses multiple vulnerability data sources to identify and prioritize weaknesses across your entire cloud estate. This full coverage also taps into protected data such as personally identifiable information (PII) and protected healthcare information, adding another layer of protection.

Orca Security CWPP provides a unified data model to effectively rank risks and identify dangerous attack paths. Known for its efficient malware detection techniques, this platform is a comprehensive solution that protects your cloud environment and sensitive data, providing all-round threat protection.

Orca Logo
Palo Alto Logo

Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Cloud is an extensive cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that offers broad security and compliance coverage. This includes securing applications, data, and the entire cloud-native technology stack across the development lifecycle and within hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Prisma Cloud offers an in-depth defense mechanism for cloud-native workloads across build, deploy, and run phases. It secures hosts, containers, Kubernetes, and serverless functions, combining runtime protection with vulnerability management and compliance as well as Web Application and API Security. The solution also offers comprehensive serverless security that protects functions throughout the application lifecycle. Prisma Cloud also offers vulnerability management, where functions are continuously scanned and monitored for risks, and compliance checks to identify and rectify misconfigurations such as private keys stored in function zips or broad resource access. Prisma Cloud provides real-time security, which includes live radar visualization into AWS Lambda running functions, continuous monitoring of compliance status, and protection from unwanted process, network, or file system activity.

Prisma Cloud from Palo Alto Networks offers exhaustive security and compliance coverage for cloud-native applications and workloads throughout their lifecycle. Its integrated, lifecycle-focused security approach offers continuous protection, managing vulnerabilities, ensuring compliance, and integrating into CI/CD workflows for efficient security operations.

Palo Alto Logo
Sysdig Logo

Sysdig Secure is a robust Cloud Native Application and Protection (CNAPP) platform used for managing cloud environment threats. It strengthens preventive and defensive strategies by prioritizing significant risks in real time.

Sysdig Secure delivers an extensive bundle of features including vulnerability management, posture management, cloud detection and response, as well as permissions and entitlements. It automatically scans container images, identifies vulnerabilities, and evaluates policies. Its cloud detection and response mechanisms stop attacks swiftly, providing a comprehensive coverage. It also improves and expedites vulnerability assessments and auto-identifies posture drifts across various cloud environments and manages user permissions and access. An additional strength of the Sysdig Secure platform is the ‘Runtime Insights’ feature, which uses insights from runtime data to rank risks and deliver context for risk mitigation. The unique Cloud Attack Graph function correlates and contextualizes data from different sources, enabling security teams to identify significant risks speedily and efficiently.

Sysdig Secure is an invaluable tool for any organization seeking to fortify their cloud security. It simplifies risk prioritization, increases mitigation efficacy, and enhances an enterprise’s overall security strategy in real time. The platform is a comprehensive solution for managing, detecting, and neutralizing threats in the cloud environment.

Sysdig Logo
Trend Micro Logo

Trend Micro Trend Vision One is a comprehensive container security solution. This innovative tool simplifies container security using sophisticated image scanning, policy-based admission control, as well as real-time detection and response.

The product offers zero-day protection scanning, which verifies new container images as they are built and maintains continuous protection after deployment. It provides quick feedback to developers about any existing threats and vulnerabilities. It also facilitates policy-based management of images, allowing security teams to create effective rules so that only the most secure Kubernetes administered containers are deployed. Trend Vision One automates the detection and protection of containerized applications – subjecting them to in-depth security coverage from build to runtime. This way, the application is well-positioned to discover, assess, and mitigate risks associated with containers. Additionally, the solution provides immediate visibility of vulnerable containers and attempts to run unauthorized commands or access files illicitly.

With Trend Vision One, users can prioritize risks and empower security with Attack Surface Management, providing essential visibility, detection, and response capabilities. Leveraging Extended Detection and Response (XDR), the software tracks and investigates cross-layer threats or activities, standing as a robust security solution that enhances incident response efficiency.

Trend Micro Logo

The Wiz Runtime Sensor is a cloud security product that focuses on real-time monitoring and threat detection. The Runtime Sensor is part of a broader platform, offering comprehensive and wide-ranging protection capabilities.

The solution is an integral part of Wiz’s cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP), marking a shift from traditional siloed tools towards a unified, comprehensive security strategy. Offering real-time protection to cover every aspect of cloud workloads, it works to detect and monitor threats, respond swiftly, and minimize attack surfaces. The Wiz Runtime Sensor is a lightweight eBPF-based agent that can be deployed on Linux hosts and Kubernetes clusters. It grants visibility into running processes, network connections, file activity, and system calls to detect malicious behavior. It enhances visibility, provides comprehensive alerts, and monitors performance impact prevalent in traditional solutions.

The Wiz Runtime Sensor provides optimal visibility, risk assessment, and real-time protection in one platform. It effectively bridges the gap between previously siloed technologies, offering a comprehensive threat detection and response system for all cloud workloads.

The Top 10 Runtime Security Tools