Cloud Disk Cloning for Container Cybersecurity Inspection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cybersecurity solutions for cloud computing environments face challenges in scalability and efficiency, particularly when detecting and mitigating cybersecurity risks across multiple cloud platforms, as they often require continuous monitoring and the deployment of virtual appliances, which can be resource-intensive and impractical for dynamic cloud environments.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the generation of a cloned disk within a cloud computing environment to inspect software containers for cybersecurity objects, allowing for immediate detection and mitigation of risks without disrupting live virtual instances, and enabling scalable and efficient risk management across multiple cloud platforms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If agent-based scanning is used to detect cybersecurity risks, then detection capability is improved, but deployment complexity and resource overhead increase due to requiring active installation and monitoring of agents on each workload
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a clone of the virtual disk containing the workload, inspects the cloned copy for cybersecurity risks, and then releases the clone. This allows comprehensive inspection without installing agents on the original workload, eliminating deployment complexity while maintaining detection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The inspection process is extracted from the live workload by creating a separate cloned disk. The clone is detached from the running virtual machine, inspected independently for cybersecurity objects, and then discarded. This separation eliminates the need for persistent agents on production systems.
2Reliability
If virtual appliances are deployed in cloud environments to scan target workloads, then scanning capability is improved, but scalability deteriorates due to the infeasibility of deploying appliances across multiple cloud environments at scale
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of deploying physical or virtual scanning appliances to each cloud environment, the system creates ephemeral clones of virtual disks and inspects them. This approach scales automatically with cloud workloads without requiring manual appliance deployment, enabling multi-cloud scalability.
Solution Approach 2:
The inspection system automatically creates clones, performs inspection, and releases resources without human intervention. This self-service model enables the system to scale across multiple cloud environments dynamically, adapting to workload changes without manual appliance management.
3Reliability
If continuous monitoring is implemented to detect changes in virtual workloads, then real-time detection is improved, but resource consumption increases due to maintaining baselines and continuous comparison
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuous monitoring, the system performs periodic inspection by creating clones at specific intervals or events, inspecting them, and releasing resources. This periodic approach reduces resource consumption while maintaining effective detection capability through on-demand cloning and inspection cycles.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for inspecting a running container for a cybersecurity object in a cloud computing environment is disclosed. The method includes: generating a clone of a disk, wherein the disk is deployed in a cloud computing environment; detecting a software container on the generated clone of the disk; and inspecting the software container for a cybersecurity object, in response to determining that the container is a running container.