Runtime Image Security Monitoring

Runtime Image Security Monitoring

Runtime monitoring detects security issues in running containers that static scanning might miss. This includes detecting vulnerable packages loaded at runtime, unexpected network connections from container images, and suspicious process executions. Runtime monitoring complements preventive controls with detective capabilities.

Image drift detection identifies when running containers differ from their original images. Containers modified at runtime might indicate compromise or configuration drift. Tools comparing running container filesystems against original images can detect unauthorized modifications. This detection helps maintain immutability principles.

Behavioral analysis of container images establishes normal patterns for network connections, file access, and process execution. Deviations from these patterns might indicate exploitation of vulnerabilities not detected by static scanning. Machine learning models can adaptively learn normal behaviors while security teams define specific rules for known bad behaviors.