AccuKnox offers comprehensive runtime security solutions, providing real-time monitoring and threat detection, ensuring robust protection for cloud-native environments, unlike traditional static security measures.

The AccuKnox Zero Trust Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) offers exceptional protection across public and private clouds, Kubernetes, virtual machines, bare metal, IoT edge, and 5G deployments. 

Leveraging cutting-edge technologies like eBPF and Linux Security Modules, AccuKnox provides real-time threat detection and inline mitigation to safeguard against evolving threats, including zero-day attacks. AccuKnox also created an open-source initiative, KubeArmor, further demonstrating a commitment to the community by enabling policy-driven workload protection.

Image: A visual representation of the evolving cyber threat landscape (e.g., timeline or infographic showing increased attacks over recent years).

Static Security Is Just Not Enough 

Source: Statista

The number of threats and costs associated continuously grow each year. At the same time that costs raises, the complexity of attacks also increases. Therefore, it is naive to think that using the same defenses for evolved attacks would result in a secure outcome. Static security was sufficient in the past, but it’s not anymore.  

The dynamic nature of modern cyber threats necessitates a shift from static to real-time security measures. Roughly 70% of the Top 10 Emerging Cybersecurity Threats until 2030 would be preventable only by runtime security solutions.  Threats involving adaptive, real-time behaviors (e.g., supply chain attacks, hybrid threats, and IoT vulnerabilities) need to be secured at the time the application is running because that is mostly likely when they will occur. On the other hand, traditional approaches often fail to detect and mitigate attacks during application runtime, leaving systems vulnerable. According to Gartner: “90% of global organizations will be running containerized applications in production by 2026—up from 40% in 2021. In addition, by 2026 20% of all enterprise applications will run in containers—up from fewer than 10% in 2020”.

As shown by the table, the major limitation of Runtime Security is that attention is needed when, for example, unusual behavior is spotted by intrusion detection. Not all vulnerability management should be done by a real-time security solution. This means that the control is still in the company’s hands to decide what should be the best approach if a vulnerability is spotted. 

At this time, it is almost certain that your organization is running containerized applications in production. Therefore, there’s a critical need for continuous monitoring and immediate threat detection to protect sensitive data and maintain system integrity. Runtime security actively monitors applications in real-time as they run in production. It doesn’t just check for known vulnerabilities. It finds unusual malicious behavior that could indicate an attack.

For further information please feel free to check What is runtime security? that emphasizes different aspects of runtime security. 

Runtime Security – A differentiated offering

AccuKnox offers robust security automation solutions for proactive threat detection and intrusion detection. AccuKnox’s runtime security solution leverages advanced technologies such as eBPF and Linux Security Modules (LSMs) to enforce security policies at the kernel level while having little to no kernel access. 

Using the sound security fundamentals of Linux Security Modules (LSMs), KubeArmor enforces policy checks before the execution of a process. If the process name matches a defined rule, KubeArmor triggers an EPERM signal, causing the execve system call to fail with a “Permission Denied” error. As a result, the process is never executed. 

KubeArmor sets itself aside as a pre-mitigation solution, as because the process is never executed, there is no need for mitigation. It differs from other post-attack mitigation solutions presented by Falcon and Tetragon. 

This approach ensures inline mitigation of threats, providing real-time protection for applications across various environments, including public and private clouds, VMs, and containerized workloads.

Key Features of AccuKnox’s Iniline mitigation approach

• Real-Time Threat Detection and Response: Utilizing technologies like eBPF (Extended Berkeley Packet Filter), AccuKnox monitors live application behavior, allowing for immediate interception of malicious actions during runtime.
• Policy Enforcement with KubeArmor: AccuKnox’s open-source project, KubeArmor, enables precise policy enforcement to prevent unauthorized access, block malicious network communications, and limit application privileges, reducing attack surfaces.
• Zero-Day Attack Protection: By identifying anomalies that don’t come from established baselines, AccuKnox enforces corrective actions inline, effectively defending against zero-day exploits that traditional static defenses might miss.
• Automated Threat Neutralization: AccuKnox analyzes system calls, processes, and network activities in real-time, automatically halting malicious behaviors such as unauthorized processes, isolating compromised containers, and blocking rogue IP addresses or domains. 
• Integration with CI/CD Pipelines: AccuKnox supports integration with DevSecOps workflows, enabling continuous runtime policy adjustments based on evolving application and threat landscapes, ensuring security measures adapt to changes seamlessly.

Real-World Case Studies

According to Microsoft Threat Intelligence, the healthcare/public health sector was one of the top 10 most impacted industries in the second quarter of 2024 for ransomware attacks. For the healthcare industry, this type of attack can cause network shutdowns, offline systems, delays in critical medical procedures, and rescheduled appointments that on average cost $900,000 per day to downtime. In addition to that, the average ransom payment to a cybercriminal organization is $4,4 million. Roughly, in about a day, a company can lose more than $5 million. 

Cut Down on Attack and Scanning Costs

1. An attacker exploits a vulnerability in a web application running within a containerized application, gaining unauthorized access.
2. Malicious Activity Detection:
   1. The attacker attempts to execute a known ransomware binary to encrypt files within the container.
   2. AccuKnox’s runtime security, leveraging eBPF technology, monitors system calls and detects the execution attempt of the unauthorized encryption process. 
3. Policy Enforcement with KubeArmor:
   1. Upon detecting the unauthorized process execution, KubeArmor enforces predefined security policies that block the execution of unapproved binaries.
   2. The execution attempt is denied, preventing the ransomware from initiating the encryption process.
4. Alert and Isolation:
   1. AccuKnox generates an alert detailing the blocked execution attempt, providing insights into the attack vector.
   2. If configured, AccuKnox can isolate the compromised container to prevent further malicious activities and lateral movement within the network.

In addition to the scenario described above, there is a case study of how AccuKnox solutions enhanced Clint Healthcare’s security.  Clint Healthcare is a company focused on developing clinical intelligence platforms for the healthcare industry. Knowing about the potential risks associated with that industry, it contacted AccuKnox to solve challenges related to no visibility about cloud assets and preventing PII Leakage. Attacking Clint’s pain, AccuKnox’s CNAPP, provided, for example, robust PII leakage prevention through data loss prevention (DLP) integration and visibility across all CSPM assets. 

Conclusion 

As the cyber threat landscape continues to evolve, organizations must transition from reactive to proactive security strategies. Traditional static measures are not effective in an era where attacks exploit runtime vulnerabilities in real-time. AccuKnox’s advanced runtime security solutions provide the solutions needed to protect cloud-native environments and containerized workloads. By exploiting top-notch technologies like eBPF and zero-trust architecture, AccuKnox ensures real-time threat detection, precise attack prevention, and seamless compliance with industry regulations.

Investing in runtime security is not just about mitigating risks—it’s about safeguarding your organization’s reputation, maintaining market trust, and enabling innovation without compromise. 

Visit AccuKnox to learn more or request a demo to experience the future of runtime security today.

FAQs 

• What is runtime security?
  It is a security approach that protects an application at the time it is executed (runtime). Runtime Security differs from static security as it focuses on end-to-end, real-time monitoring rather than scanning static files. It monitors, detects, and prevents threats from affecting processes inside a cloud-native environment. 
• How does AccuKnox ensure real-time detection?
  Runtime security protects the cloud when it’s most vulnerable by hardening the environment, detecting real-time threats, stopping malicious activity, and suggesting incident response, 
• Why is real-time security critical today?
  It is critical because traditional static security is not enough to defend against the evolution of cyber threats. Applications are constantly attacked when in live production, which needs a different security approach, the real-time security approach.