Docker Security: Threat Model and Best Practices to Secure a Docker Container

Abstract

In recent years, virtualization technologies have seen dramatic growth in their levels of adoption. Because of this, the need for virtualization solutions that are both efficient and secure is becoming increasingly apparent. Virtualization technologies have emerged in the market in various forms, the most prominent of which are container and hypervisor-based virtualization. The demand for smaller development cycles, easier configuration management, continuous deployment and delivery, and cost reductions in cloud infrastructures led to the birth of containers. Containers are more versatile than VMs and give a better overall performance. Container-based virtualization has the potential to deliver a virtual environment that is lighter and more efficient, but it does not come without security problems. Docker is now the market leader among all container solutions. Docker is a platform that provides comprehensive packaging and software delivery. In this research, we analyze the security level of Docker, a well-known representative of container-based approaches. This research will also present Docker secure deployment guidelines. These guidelines will suggest different configurations to deploy Docker containers in a more secure way.