5 Features the Best CNAPP Vendors Must Offer

“Cloud-Native Application Protection (CNAPP) encompasses tools, technologies and practices aimed at safeguarding the network and infrastructure of cloud-native applications. Not all CNAPPs were created equal. The top 5 required features are unified capabilities, visibility, compliance, performance and scalability and ASPM integration”

As organizations advance their digital transformation and adopt the cloud, it also becomes increasingly complex to secure cloud-native environments. CNAPP (Cloud-Native Application Protection) is a suite of tools, practices, and technologies designed to safeguard every runtime aspect of cloud-native applications. CNAPPs defend cloud workloads, manage compliance and ensure real-time cloud visibility. This allows enterprises to protect their cloud environments while reducing complexity and improving operational efficiency.

But with so many vendors offering CNAPP solutions, how do you identify the right one for your needs?

In this blog, we’ll explore the five essential features to look for in a CNAPP vendor. These insights will help you evaluate CNAPPs that will secure your cloud architecture and enhance your overall cloud security posture.

What is CNAPP?

Cloud-Native Application Protection (CNAPP) encompasses tools, technologies and practices aimed at safeguarding the network and infrastructure of cloud-native applications. While the cloud offers dynamic scalability, it also introduces complex security challenges.

CNAPP enables enterprises to strengthen their cloud architecture’s security posture across workloads and runtime environments, while enhancing operational efficiency, visibility, and control.

What to Look for in a CNAPP Vendor: 5 Top Features

When evaluating CNAPP, look for vendors whose solutions address the comprehensive security needs of cloud-native environments. Here’s a breakdown of key features that top-tier CNAPP vendors must offer:

1. Unified Solution for Runtime Security Capabilities

Let’s start with the basics. The power of CNAPP lies in its ability to unify multiple security tools and practices into a single, cohesive platform. This platform should deliver streamlined, comprehensive, and policy-consistent protection for cloud-native environments, across the following functionalities:

• Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP) – Defending workloads, including virtual machines (VMs), containers and serverless functions, against threats and vulnerabilities.
• Identity and Access Management (IAM) – Ensuring that only authorized users and services can access resources, adhering to the principle of least privilege. This can extend to Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) for managing identities across cloud environments.
• Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) – Continuously scanning and monitoring cloud resource configurations to ensure compliance with security policies and regulations.
• Runtime Container Security – Implementing specialized security for containers during runtime, including monitoring and managing vulnerabilities in live environments.

Pro Tip: Ask the CNAPP vendor which of these capabilities are currently available and which are in the roadmap. Also request to understand if the additions will be developed internally or acquired, since this can impact efficacy and the user experience.

2. Comprehensive Cloud Visibility

Siloed cloud security solutions create inconsistencies and friction, which can affect the ability to reliably identify, mitigate and respond to threats. CNAPP’s unified offering should provide visibility across all cloud infrastructure and workloads, spanning all cloud, multi-cloud, or hybrid setup. This will allow monitoring, securing and managing cloud environments.

For example, CNAPPs should be able to detect:

• Excessive permissions
• Exposed services
• Misconfigurations
• Anomalous behaviors
• Unprotected storage buckets
• Compliance breaches
• And more

The findings are displayed in a single dashboard that visualizes assets, risks and compliance – making it easier to identify blind spots and ensure consistent security.

Pro Tip: Even the best CNAPP tools do not offer visibility into legacy applications and the SDLC. They cannot identify vulnerabilities or injected malware, leaving blind spots for attackers to exploit. This requires application security and an ASPM.

3. Compliance

CNAPP tools include CSPM, allowing for compliance support for security standards such as CIS, NIST, ISO, PCI and HIPAA. CNAPPs should provide built-in compliance templates, automated assessments against these standards and audit reports. If possible, choose a vendor that also offers remediation efforts. This ensures your organization’s runtime capabilities are aligned with the legal requirements of their industry and helps prevent fines and legal trouble.

Pro Tip: Select a vendor with robust compliance monitoring and reporting features that align with your industry standards.

4. Scalability and Performance

CNAPP solutions are inherently designed to thrive in cloud-native ecosystems. The cloud often spans multiple regions, availability zones, and even hybrid or multi-cloud environments. As a result, CNAPPs need the capability to scale across workloads, environments, infrastructures, additional cloud services, or expanded geographical reach, without compromising performance or requiring significant reconfiguration.

Required features include:

• Dynamic Resource Allocation – Using cloud-native technologies like Kubernetes and serverless architectures to allocate resources dynamically, ensuring efficient performance as workloads fluctuate.
• Integration with Native Cloud Services – Integrating with cloud-native tools like AWS CloudTrail, Azure Security Center, or GCP Cloud Security Command Center, CNAPPs minimize the need for additional processing power and storage.
• Elastic Scaling – Adapting to workload spikes, such as increased user activity or large-scale data processing, without manual intervention.

• Agentless or Lightweight Agents – Agentless security models or use lightweight agents that reduce the computational burden on host systems while still providing robust security monitoring.
• Optimized Data Processing – Modern data streaming and processing technologies to analyze logs, monitor configurations, and enforce policies without creating bottlenecks in performance.

5. Integrations with Cloud-Native Application Security Solutions

CNAPPs are excellent solutions for cloud runtime and infrastructure security. They provide visibility, government and protection, while identifying and remediation issues. However they lack the ability to identify and detect vulnerabilities and malicious code earlier in the process, before they become an expensive security risk.

Instead, cloud-native application security and ASPMs can identify and remediate vulnerabilities in code. Working with developers, these solutions help provide quick and accurate fixes before they reach customers, reducing the volume of risks CNAPPs deal with and bolstering security in a cost-effective manner.

Therefore, CNAPP solutions need to integrate with cloud-native application security solutions, sharing data to enable remediation as early as possible in the SDLC.

What’s Next? 8 Questions to Ask Your CNAPP Vendor

When evaluating CNAPP solutions, asking the right questions helps ensure the vendor aligns with your organization’s specific security, compliance, and scalability needs. Here are 8 essential questions to guide your discussions:

1. What Runtime Capabilities Does Your Platform Support?

Does the CNAPP provide comprehensive runtime protection, including CWPP, IAM, CSPM, and runtime container security?

2. How Does Your Solution Ensure Comprehensive Cloud Visibility?

Can the platform identify misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and anomalies across multi-cloud and hybrid environments? What blind spots might exist, such as limited visibility into legacy applications or vulnerabilities in the SDLC?

3. What Compliance Standards Does Your CNAPP Support?

Does the platform include pre-built templates and automated compliance reporting for standards like [fill in according to your requirements]? How does the solution manage remediation for compliance-related issues?

4. How Scalable Is Your Platform Across Multi-Cloud Environments?

Can the solution handle dynamic resource allocation and elastic scaling across regions and workloads? Does it integrate seamlessly with native cloud services? Can it support on-premises?

5. What Performance Optimizations Are Built Into the Platform?

Does the solution use agentless or lightweight agents to minimize system impact? How does it optimize data processing to prevent bottlenecks during large-scale monitoring or policy enforcement?

6. How Does Your Platform Integrate with Other Security Tools?

Can the CNAPP integrate with ASPM and cloud native application platform vendors, tools and solutions to detect and remediate vulnerabilities earlier in the software development lifecycle (SDLC)? What other third-party tools and native cloud services does it support for seamless interoperability, like CI/CD or SIEM/SORA?

7. What Is Your Approach to Threat Detection and Incident Response?

How does the platform prioritize and alert on threats to reduce noise and focus on critical vulnerabilities? Does it provide actionable recommendations or automated remediation workflows?

8. What Level of Support and Training Do You Provide?

Are there resources such as detailed documentation, training sessions, or dedicated customer success teams available to assist with onboarding and optimization? What SLAs are in place for support and issue resolution?Discover more about Checkmarx One and how it provides essential features missing in CNAPPs. Get a demo here.