Cloud Security Podcast

Scaling Container Security Without Slowing Developers

Apr 17, 2025

Cailyn Edwards, Co-Chair of Kubernetes SIG Security and Senior Security Engineer at Auth0 by Okta, shares her expertise on scaling container security. She discusses the importance of automating security and bridging the gap between security teams and developers for better collaboration. The conversation highlights the 'Shift Down' philosophy, leveraging open-source tools, and the significance of minimal, immutable images for security. Cailyn also emphasizes getting leadership buy-in to align security with business goals and shares personal anecdotes that enrich the discussion.

28:13

Creator website

Episode guests

Cailyn Edwards

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Effective container security requires automation tools like Trivy to identify misconfigurations, ensuring risk mitigation without disrupting development efforts.

Building trust with development teams through collaboration and aligning security practices with their workflows enhances application reliability and fosters a security-aware culture.

Deep dives

Offloading Security Responsibilities

Building a trust relationship with cloud platforms can ease the burden of regular security patching, allowing organizations to focus more on upgrades. This approach involves leveraging products like BottleRocket, which provides clean and well-maintained images to reduce manual patching efforts. By outsourcing some responsibilities to cloud providers, organizations can streamline their security processes while promoting ownership of the deployment infrastructure. This shift allows teams to concentrate on deploying updated versions rather than dealing with frequent emergency fixes.

Intro

2min

Ensuring Container Security in Development

21min

The Importance of Leadership in Security Practices

2min

Balancing Personal Passion with Professional Pursuits

1min

From Farm to Table: A Personal Journey and Culinary Delights

2min

Are you struggling to implement robust container security at scale without creating friction with your development teams? In this episode, host Ashish Rajan sits down with Cailyn Edwards, Co-Chair of Kubernetes SIG Security and Senior Security Engineer, for a masterclass in practical container security. This episode was recorded LIVE at KubeCon EU, London 2025.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

Automating Security Effectively: Moving beyond basic vulnerability scanning to implement comprehensive automation
Bridging the Security-Developer Gap: Strategies for educating developers, building trust, fostering collaboration, and understanding developer use cases instead of just imposing rules.
The "Shift Down" Philosophy: Why simply "Shifting Left" isn't enough, and how security teams can proactively provide secure foundations, essentially "Shifting Down."
Leveraging Open Source Tools: Practical discussion around tools like Trivy, Kubeaudit, Dependabot, RenovateBot, TruffleHog, Kube-bench, OPA, and more.
The Power of Immutable Infrastructure: Exploring the benefits of using minimal, immutable images to drastically reduce patching efforts and enhance security posture.
Understanding Real Risks: Discussing the dangers lurking in default configurations and easily exposed APIs/ports in container environments.
Getting Leadership Buy-In: The importance of aligning security initiatives with business goals and securing support from leadership.

Guest Socials: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cailyn's Linkedin

If you want to watch videos of this LIVE STREAMED episode and past episodes - Check out our other Cloud Security Social Channels:

-⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cloud Security Podcast- Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cloud Security Newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cloud Security BootCamp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

If you are interested in AI Cybersecurity, you can check out our sister podcast -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ AI Cybersecurity Podcast

Questions asked:

(00:00) Intro: Container Security at Scale

(01:56) Meet Cailyn Edwards: Kubernetes SIG Security Co-Chair

(03:34) Why Container Security Matters: Risks & Exposures Explained

(06:21) Automating Container Security: From Scans to Admission Controls

(12:19) Essential Container Security Tools (Trivy, OPA, Chainguard & More)