What Is a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP)?

Mitigating all of these risks and securing the cloud requires a unique approach with a different breed of protection tools. Traditionally, businesses would have had to deploy a diverse set of individual tools – like vulnerability scanners, IaC security tools, and runtime protection software – to cover all aspects of cloud security.

But this is no longer necessary when businesses adopt a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform, or CNAPP. By delivering a wide range of security features and capabilities that protect applications from “code to cloud,” CNAPP tools offer a holistic approach to addressing cloud security needs.

Keep reading for a deep dive into what a CNAPP is, how it works, and why CNAPP applications have become so central to modern cloud security.

In this article:

• What is a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform? CNAPP’s meaning, explained
• CNAPP and Gartner
• How CNAPPs solve key cloud security challenges
• The benefits of a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform
• Challenges to CNAPP adoption
• The core components of a CNAPP
• The future of CNAPP

What is a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform? CNAPP’s meaning, explained

Source: Gartner

A Cloud Native Application Protection Platform, or CNAPP, is a type of security solution that provides an integrated set of security and compliance capabilities for cloud native applications.

The purpose of a CNAPP is to allow organizations to secure both private and public cloud environments and workloads across all layers and all stages of development. To this end, a typical CNAPP offers the following key types of capabilities:

• Artifact scanning to help enable a secure software development lifecycle for cloud native apps.
• Configuration and compliance management features, which help identify and address misconfigurations in the cloud that could lead to security risks or compliance violations.
• Proactive security and governance controls designed to enforce compliance and security policies across all stages of the development lifecycle.
• Monitoring and analytics features to detect threats and risks across multiple stages of the development lifecycle.
• Runtime security to detect real-time threats and enforce security policies.
• Risk prioritization features, to assist teams in determining which cloud security risks to address first.

These are just the core capabilities that most CNAPP provide. Some CNAPP solutions offer additional features, such as software supply chain security protection and cloud detection and response capabilities, to name just a couple. Thus, before adopting a CNAPP, it’s important to consider exactly which capabilities and protections it delivers. Software vendors use the CNAPP label somewhat broadly, and some CNAPP tools provide more comprehensive protection than others.

It’s important to note as well that the integration of multiple cloud security capabilities into a single platform is another key characteristic of a CNAPP. To deliver the most optimal outcomes, a CNAPP should allow teams to contextualize and correlate the various types of insights that the CNAPP uncovers from software development pipelines, cloud infrastructure, and runtime environments. Simply providing multiple cloud security features or tools, but without connecting them into a tightly integrated and unified platform, is different from providing a true CNAPP.

CNAPP and Gartner

The concept of the CNAPP originated with Gartner, the IT research and advisory firm. Gartner coined the term in 2021 to refer to the solution that delivers end-to-end protection for cloud native applications.

At the time, the CNAPP concept was significant because most security tools had traditionally focused only on specific aspects of cloud security. Primarily, there was a separation between “shift left” tooling that addresses issues in earlier stages of the SDLC on the one hand, and workload protection tooling that focused on running workloads. Similarly, examination of infrastructure issues (CSPM, IaC) was also separate from code and application layer controls, including the identification and handling of vulnerabilities, malware, and suspicious behaviors.

Gartner recognized that point solutions – meaning tools that cover only specific aspects of cloud security – were a poor fit for modern cloud security because they were difficult to integrate into a unified view of issues, and consequently a unified approach to protection. As a result, the company began encouraging businesses to shift to a CNAPP-based approach to cloud security.

Gartner’s focus on the value of a CNAPP also reflects awareness of the importance of DevSecOps, meaning the integration of security into DevOps workflows. By providing a range of cloud security protection that integrate tightly with Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, CNAPP helps put the DevSecOps concept into practice in the modern cloud.

Over time, Gartner’s take on CNAPP has evolved. For instance, in its 2024 market guide to CNAPP tools, the firm emphasized the importance of software supply chain security within a CNAPP because “APIs and the software supply chain itself have become targets for potential attack.” These types of protections featured less prominently in the discussion of CNAPP when Gartner introduced the concept in 2021, before software supply chain attacks and API breaches became as prevalent and acknowledged as they are today.

How CNAPPs solve key cloud security challenges

Now that we’ve covered the types of capabilities a CNAPP can provide, let’s discuss which concrete benefits they bring to cloud security.

#1. Bidirectional collaboration between Security and DevOps teams

Friction between DevOps and engineering teams (responsible for designing, developing, and managing software) and security teams ( responsible for application, hardware, and environment security) is common. That’s because testing applications for security risks, and remediating risks when they appear, often slows down DevOps workflows.

With Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP), however, it becomes easier for DevOps and security teams to work together efficiently because cloud security data and controls can be directly integrated into DevOps workflows. For instance, rather than running security tests in a silo after DevOps engineers have already built and deployed an app to the cloud, CNAPP can make it possible to test for security risks while the app is still in development, while also providing runtime context to reduce the number of false positives (e.g., vulnerabilities that are found in code but cannot really be exploited in a given customer environment). As a result, teams are in a strong position to identify security issues before deployment. At this stage in the development lifecycle, issues are typically much faster and simpler to resolve than they would be if DevOps engineers had to pull an app from a production environment to remediate security vulnerabilities.

By enabling efficient coordination between DevOps and Security, CNAPP solutions promote what Gartner calls “bidirectional collaboration.” That means that each stakeholder group is able to collaborate seamlessly with its counterpart to address security priorities – as opposed to working at cross purposes, or having one team hand orders down to another.

It also sets the stage for trust – trust in the code that’s being deployed, the infrastructure, and how it is configured – which in turn allows security operations to focus on fewer issues and incidents.

#2. Removing cloud security blind spots

The complexity of the cloud can make it easy to overlook critical security considerations. For example, in a container-based application delivery pipeline, a team might configure its deployment tools to pull a container image using the “latest:” tag. This practice is risky because it might result in the deployment of an application version that has not undergone complete testing. Despite the risk,  this can be an easy mistake to make, since it involves just a single label within the code that determines how cloud-based apps are deployed.

Another common example is an object storage bucket that is configured to make its data publicly viewable by anyone on the Internet. This configuration could expose sensitive data that a business stores in the bucket. But here again, it’s easy to make this type of oversight because just a few lines of code in the security policy that governs the data could set it up for public access.

CNAPP helps provide visibility into risks like these, which might otherwise remain undetected. They do this in two key ways: first, by providing governance controls that can help prevent engineers from making configuration oversights when setting up resources; and second, by scanning and validating configurations across a variety of cloud services and workload types to detect mistakes that might have made their way into cloud environments.

#3. Enabling a unified risk engine

With Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP), virtually all cloud risks can be identified and managed through a comprehensive platform. This enables a unified approach to risk.

Unifying risk management is important for two key reasons. First, it makes workflows more efficient by allowing teams to track and mitigate risks through a consolidated platform. Without a CNAPP approach, they’d have to juggle multiple disparate tools – such as application scanners and cloud infrastructure scanners – to manage different types of risks, often with divergent data sets that highlight different risks, or rate them differently.

Second and most important, a unified risk engine helps maximize consistency and reduce noise, and focus on the wrong risks. The fewer tools engineers have to manage when addressing risks, and the less often they have to switch between contexts, the lower the chances that they’ll overlook some risks or fail to adhere consistently to the business’s risk management policies.

#4. Providing contextualized detection and response

In a complex cloud environment, context is everything when it comes to detecting and responding to risks. CNAPPs help provide this context by enabling access to a wide range of insights and offering visibility into all key layers of the cloud. In this way, Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) solutions help teams get to the root cause of security issues and remediate them quickly.

As an example of what this means in practice, imagine that a CNAPP detects anomalous behavior in a containerized application managed in a Kubernetes cluster, and that the team using the CNAPP suspects the app has been compromised. There are many potential root causes for them to investigate: A security vulnerability in the container image, insecure open source dependencies, vulnerabilities in the operating system of the node that hosts the container, and insecure configuration settings in Kubernetes, to name just a few.

In this case, being able to analyze other data sources within the CNAPP – such as security tests performed on the container before it was deployed, scans of the host node, and scans of the Kubernetes environment – would help the team identify the root cause of the flaw as quickly as possible. By extension, they’d also be able to remediate the problem fast and efficiently.

#5. Helping to shift security left

There has been a lot of talk in recent years about shifting security “left” – which means running security scans and tests as early as possible in the software development lifecycle. But without a unified approach to cloud security, actually putting the shift-left principle into practice can be challenging.

Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) helps by integrating security into all stages of the software development lifecycle. As a result, teams don’t have to wait until they’ve deployed apps to scan for vulnerabilities and risks. They can run security tests while the app is still in development, enabling them to catch and fix most issues much earlier. As noted above, this strategy reduces friction between DevOps and Security teams. It also minimizes the risk of pushing vulnerable applications into production.

It’s worth noting as well that CNAPP can also help to shift security “right,” which is also valuable in many cases. Shifting right means extending security scans, tests, and controls into post-deployment stages of the software development lifecycle. When you have a CNAPP solution that allows you to address security issues both before and after deploying an app into production, you maximize your chances of detecting and mitigating risks before threat actors can exploit them.

#6. Improving operational efficiency

Cloud security is a priority for most businesses, but so is operational efficiency. Organizations don’t want security to come at the expense of fast innovation, or to have their teams become overburdened with security workflows.

By enabling an integrated, automated approach to cloud security across all stages of the software development lifecycle, and by maximizing the context into security issues, CNAPP helps teams achieve balance between security and operational efficiency. It also helps them to do more with less personnel – a key consideration in an era when cybersecurity talent remains hard to find, and when the frequency and complexity of cybersecurity risks is steadily increasing.

The benefits of a Cloud Native Application Protection Platform

Cloud Native Application Protection Platforms provide several key benefits – some of which are technical, and some of which apply to the business as a whole.

The technical advantages of CNAPP include:

• Enhanced ability to detect and respond to varying types of cloud security risks.
• The enforcement of consistent security policies across all layers of cloud environments.
• Support for contextualizing security risks and correlating insights gleaned from multiple layers and components of cloud environments.
• The ability to consolidate cloud security capabilities and data into a single platform, reducing operational complexity.

From a business perspective, CNAPP also provide key benefits:

• Empowering application teams to deliver faster, more agile updates at scale, without compromising security and compliance.
• Reducing overall cloud security tool costs by consolidating security into a single platform.
• Lowering the risk of disrupting services or delaying innovation due to security issues and inefficient operations.
• Achieving consistency of security controls across multiple clouds and platforms.
• A simplified means of ensuring that cloud environments and workloads align with the compliance mandates the business must meet.

Collectively, these benefits mean that CNAPP reduces cloud security risks while also helping businesses operate more efficiently. It’s a win-win from the perspective of security teams and business leadership.

Challenges to CNAPP adoption

While CNAPPs offer clear value, adopting them is not always easy. Common challenges include:

• Organizational challenges: In some cases, businesses may find that there is a reluctance among some of their teams to adopt a new approach to cloud security – especially if engineers feel that conventional tools are already working well enough, or if they do not yet appreciate the efficiency that CNAPP enables.
• Selecting a CNAPP: As noted above, some vendors use the term CNAPP a bit loosely, and not all CNAPPs provide all the features that an organization may need. For this reason, and given the relative immaturity of the market, it is sometimes better to select more than one CNAPP in order to best address key use-cases and pain points.
• Migrating to a CNAPP: Replacing or augmenting existing security tools with CNAPP is a complex process. In many cases, teams need to modify parts of their security workflows. Doing so is worth the effort because it will breed efficiency, but it’s important not to underestimate the challenge of adopting CNAPP.
• CNAPP learning curve: Because CNAPP are powerful tools that offer a range of capabilities, it can take time for engineers to learn to use them to maximum effect.

Each of these CNAPP adoption challenges can be overcome with appropriate commitment to planning and resource allocation. Still, it’s important for organizations to recognize that replacing conventional cloud security solutions with a CNAPP is not a simple process, or a project that can be completed in a matter of days. Adopting a CNAPP is similar to migrating to the cloud: It’s a complex endeavor that requires careful planning and the participation of multiple stakeholders. It can deliver some value quickly, but the full impact will be realized in stages.

The core components of a CNAPP

As noted above, the exact capabilities of CNAPP vary from one solution to another. But any modern CNAPP worthy of the label should provide the following four key components.

Shift-left scanning

CNAPP should provide a range of scanning capabilities – including Source Composition Analysis (SCA), IaC scanning, and Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tests – that make it possible to detect a variety of security vulnerabilities early in the software development lifecycle. This allows teams to shift security left by catching vulnerabilities when apps are still in the “code” stage, well before they reach production cloud environments. 

CSPM

Cloud Security Posture Management, or CSPM, protects against configuration mistakes that could lead to cloud security risks. For example, a cloud IAM policy might enable public access to a resource that should be available only to users within the organization that uses it. Or, a typo in an IaC template might mean that cloud-based data that should be encrypted turns out not to be.

By scanning cloud configuration settings, CNAPP can identify risks like these and alert engineers.

KSPM

Kubernetes Security Posture Management, or KSPM, handles security risks related to Kubernetes, the open source container orchestrator. Just as CSPM identifies risky configurations in cloud environments writ large, KSPM detects problems like insecure Kubernetes Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) or network plugin settings.

Given the central role that Kubernetes plays in hosting modern, cloud-native workloads, as well as the complexity of the Kubernetes platform, the ability to manage Kubernetes security through a comprehensive CNAPP platform is critical.

CIEM

Cloud Infrastructure and Entitlement Management, or CIEM, focuses on the permissions (in other words, entitlements) granted to users and services in the cloud. The goal of CIEM is to prevent excessive or unnecessary access by ensuring that permissions are aligned with the principle of least privilege.

Through CIEM capabilities, CNAPP helps ensure that permission settings for cloud users and services don’t create unnecessary security risks.

CWP

Cloud Workload Protection, or CWP, monitors cloud workloads – including both applications and data – in order to detect and mitigate security risks. For example, it can scan for vulnerabilities in an application running in the cloud, as well as identify anomalous application behavior that could be a sign of a breach, and initiate an automated response to mitigate that risk (whether it’s blocking or quarantining a process, or initiating incident response flows).

Other CNAPP components focus on securing cloud environments and infrastructure, whereas CWP is the primary way in which CNAPP helps secure cloud workloads themselves.

The future of CNAPP

While no one can predict the future of CNAPP with total certainty, it seems a safe bet that the following trends will prove central to the CNAPP landscape over the next several years.

CNAPP become essential

When the CNAPP concept debuted, many organizations treated unified cloud security as a nice-to-have resource, rather than an essential one. But that is likely to change in the future. Gartner CNAPP insights suggest that by 2029, a majority of organizations that have not adopted  CNAPP “will lack extensive visibility into the cloud attack surface and consequently fail to achieve their desired zero-trust goals.”

Growing focus on API and software supply chain security

As noted above, API and software supply chain security capabilities are poised to become increasingly important components of CNAPP. The reason why is simple: Attacks that target APIs and software supply chain attacks have both surged in recent years.

This means organizations can’t effectively secure the cloud if they lack visibility into security risks within both APIs and third-party software components. CNAPP that delivers these capabilities can help plug both visibility gaps.

External CNAPP integrations increase

The ability to integrate cloud security capabilities into a unified platform has always been a defining feature of CNAPP. Going forward, however, we’re likely to see increased focus on integrating CNAPP with external tools as well, whether those used by developers, Kubernetes admins, or SecOps teams. For example, the most effective CNAPP will be able to connect seamlessly to the software development tools that organizations use to enable highly efficient, automated security testing, with minimal integration effort required on the part of developers.

CNAPP gains AI/ML features

As Gartner notes, AI/ML features can help enhance CNAPP in domains like “policy enrichment, recommendations or common language interpretation.” For that reason, AI features for cloud security platforms are likely to become an increasingly important CNAPP capability.

The Aqua CNAPP solution

At Aqua, we know a thing or two about CNAPP. The Aqua platform was built from the ground up to help organizations conquer cloud security risks. Aqua delivers a comprehensive set of capabilities – including CSPM, KSPM, IaC scanning, vulnerability management, CWPP, supply chain security, and more – that businesses need to help keep cloud environments and workloads secure. Aqua also offers a broad range of integrations, making it easy to adopt the Aqua as your CNAPP solution no matter which types of security risks you face, or which cloud platforms or services you use.Learn more by requesting a demo.