Intruder adds container image scanning to cloud platform

Intruder has launched container image scanning for its cloud security platform, extending coverage to images stored in major cloud registries.

The update supports Amazon Web Services Elastic Container Registry, Google Cloud Artifact Registry and Azure Container Registry. It scans new and updated images daily for vulnerabilities and presents the findings in a prioritised list alongside other vulnerabilities, attack surface issues and misconfigurations already tracked on the platform.

The feature is available across Intruder's Cloud, Pro and Enterprise tiers, as well as in its free trial. Existing users can access it through current cloud integrations, while new customers need additional setup when adding those integrations.

Container Focus

The launch reflects the growing use of containers in cloud infrastructure and the security gaps that can follow. Businesses that build and deploy applications in containers often lack visibility into vulnerabilities within those images, including outdated dependencies, vulnerable open source packages and known Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures.

Intruder's approach works at registry level rather than relying on agents installed on nodes. This means customers do not need to deploy and maintain scanning software across their environments, which can add operational overhead and leave gaps where agents are difficult to run.

Registry-level scanning also allows issues to be identified before an image reaches production. The system uses image tags to focus on images in active use rather than scanning every image in a registry, aiming to reduce false positives and avoid clutter from old or deprecated images.

The feature is also designed to cover container use beyond Kubernetes environments. Organisations run containers in services such as AWS Lambda, AWS ECS and virtual machines, while managed container services can make agent deployment difficult because customers do not control the underlying nodes.

Wider Coverage

Container security has become more prominent as cloud-native software development expands. Intruder cited Grand View Research data showing the container market is growing at 33.5 per cent a year, increasing the amount of infrastructure that depends on images assembled from multiple software components and external packages.

That trend has created a challenge for security and IT teams already managing sprawling cloud estates. Vulnerabilities embedded in container images can move through development pipelines and into live services if they are not detected early, especially where teams use fragmented security tools or have limited visibility across different cloud environments.

Founded in 2015, Intruder positions itself as an exposure management provider for smaller security teams. Its platform is used by more than 3,000 organisations and combines attack surface management, cloud security and continuous vulnerability management in a single service.

Andy Hornegold, Vice President of Product at Intruder, said the release is intended to close a persistent gap in cloud visibility.

"Containerized environments are everywhere and security solutions need to adapt accordingly," he said. "Containerized environments are a big, complicated attack surface and this release extends our attack surface and cloud coverage into one of the most critical parts of modern infrastructure, giving teams continuous visibility into container vulnerabilities with minimal effort and strong signal-to-noise control."