Container Layer Inspection for Cybersecurity Threat Localization

The container image is divided into multiple layers, and the scanning process is segmented to inspect only specific layers (those with changes) rather than all layers. This segmentation allows the system to maintain comprehensive threat detection while reducing redundant scanning of unchanged layers, thereby lowering processing and storage resource consumption.

The patent extracts and inspects only the layers that contain changes or differences from the base image, separating the inspection process from the entire container image. By taking out only the relevant layers for scanning, the system achieves effective threat detection while minimizing resource usage on unchanged portions.

The container image scanning process is segmented into layer-specific inspections. By dividing the inspection task across individual layers and only scanning those with changes, the system reduces total inspection time while maintaining comprehensive threat detection coverage across all necessary layers.

The system performs preliminary identification of changed layers before conducting the actual security scanning. By determining which layers contain changes in advance, the inspection process can be focused on only those layers, significantly reducing the time required for comprehensive threat detection.

The patent segments the threat detection process to identify the specific layer where each threat originates. By analyzing threats in the context of individual layers and their relationships, the system can accurately localize threats to their source layers even when multiple layers are involved in the container image structure.

Instead of determining threat origin from the top layer downward, the patent inverts the approach by identifying threats in changed layers and tracing their origin upward through the layer hierarchy. This inverted approach enables precise threat localization by working from the point of change back to the source layer.