Virtualization

Docker Security: How Containers (Not) Help You

There is a great misconception about using container and virtualization technology. We have a look at the Docker security features and how it can help you.

Summary

Things about containers

Security is hot and so is Docker. During the last years Docker has become one of quickest growing container techniques for Linux. While system virtualization continues to grow, the technology allowing flexible containers is growing even faster and starting to compete. In this article we have a look how containers may help you with you security needs and Docker security in particular.

How containers work

Containers are like “chroot” on steroids. Where chroot is faking a new directory structure for processes, a container can do this one multiple levels. This includes the file system, network, IPC (inter process communication), users and also process IDs. Docker, being one of the container solutions, is using two areas from the Linux kernel: namespaces and control groups.