Docker Security

Chapter 1. Security and Limiting Containers

To use Docker safely, you need to be aware of the potential security issues and the major tools and techniques for securing container-based systems. This report considers security mainly from the viewpoint of running Docker in production, but most of the advice is equally applicable to development. Even with security, it is important to keep the development and production environments similar in order to avoid the issues around moving code between environments that Docker was intended to solve.

Reading online posts and news items¹ about Docker can give you the impression that Docker is inherently insecure and not ready for production use. While you certainly need to be aware of issues related to using containers safely, containers, if used properly, can provide a more secure and efficient system than using virtual machines (VMs) or bare metal alone.

This report begins by exploring some of the issues surrounding the security of container-based systems that you should be thinking about when using containers.

Disclaimer!

The guidance and advice in this report is based on my opinion. I am not a security researcher, nor am I responsible for any major public-facing system. That being said, I am confident that any system that follows the guidance in this report will be in a better security situation than the majority of systems out there. The advice in this report does not form a complete solution and should be used only to inform the development ...