Today’s DevOps teams need to innovate, accelerate development, and minimize friction. At the same time, securing cloud-native environments is also more challenging. Software now runs in containers, virtual machines, serverless, APIs, identities, storage buckets, Kubernetes clusters, and across clouds. Every resource can be an attack vector and every configuration can be a vulnerability.
Existing security systems can become complicated in this environment because they rely on installing, managing, updating, and monitoring software agents on each workload. This can be problematic for fast-paced engineering teams. Agentless cloud security provides an alternative: broad visibility across cloud environments without requiring developers to install agents on all assets.
Solutions such as Orca Security, Wiz, Prisma Cloud, Lacework, Aqua Security, Sysdig, Trend Micro Cloud One, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud help security and DevOps teams find vulnerabilities in complex cloud deployments while providing a simpler alternative to agent-based security.
Agentless Security Supports DevOps
Dynamic environments are the hallmark of DevOps. The container is rotated up and down quickly. Serverless functions may run in a short time. Infrastructure is provided through code. Cloud resources are constantly changing as developers deploy, scale, test, and release new code.
In a world like this, having an agent on every workload can be problematic. Agents may need to be installed as part of the build process, kept up to date across multiple operating systems, patched regularly, and monitored for compatibility issues. This can be a burden for technical teams trying to accelerate.
Agentless security reduces that burden. Agentless security tools do not require software installation on workloads; instead, they provide access to the cloud environment through APIs, snapshots, metadata, cloud configuration, and workload context. This allows security professionals to scan, detect vulnerabilities, check for misconfigurations, and manage risks without requiring changes to the way developers build and deploy code.
The benefits of DevOps are clear: security can be improved more easily without impacting speed.
How Agentless Cloud Security Works
Agentless cloud security products typically integrate with cloud providers – such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. They then examine cloud assets and configurations from an external perspective, versus relying solely on the software installed in the workload itself.
This may include virtual machine snapshots, cloud storage configurations, IAM roles and policies, network vulnerabilities, container images, Kubernetes configurations, and metadata from cloud services. These signals can be combined to provide insight into overall environmental risk.
The real advantage is context. Vulnerability alone is not enough. DevOps teams also need to know whether the vulnerable asset is connected to the internet, whether the asset has access to sensitive information, whether the asset is used in production, and whether the asset has more access than it should, which could increase the vulnerability and make the problem worse.
This type of information helps shift focus from a long list of common threats to risk priorities.
Best Agentless Cloud Security Platform for DevOps
There are currently several cloud security platforms with agentless or agent-first features. The best choice depends on company size, cloud infrastructure, compliance and regulatory requirements, run-time environment, and current security infrastructure.
Orca Security provides agentless cloud security and visibility. Typically chosen by teams looking for comprehensive coverage without deploying agents to every asset.
Wiz offers cloud security posture management, vulnerability management, identity risk, exposure management, and cloud-native application security. It is used by teams that have complex multi-cloud deployments.
Palo Alto Networks’ Prisma Cloud provides a comprehensive cloud-native security solution that includes posture, workload, compliance, container, and runtime security.
Lacework is known for cloud security, anomaly detection, workload risk, compliance, and behavioral analysis.
Aqua Security is commonly known for containers, Kubernetes, and cloud-native security. This helps teams that have excellent container and DevSecOps practices.
Sysdig is popular for cloud, container, and Kubernetes security, where visibility and runtime protection are critical.
Trend Micro Cloud One offers cloud workloads, containers, file storage, and application security for teams looking for cloud security as part of a security platform.
Microsoft Security Center is ideal for those with large investments in Azure, but can be used for multi-cloud security.
Comparison of Agentless Cloud Security Platforms
| Platforms | Key Strength | DevOps Use Cases | Most Suitable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orca Safety | Agentless cloud visibility and risk prioritization | Find exposed vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and risky cloud paths | Multi-cloud teams want fast deployment with minimal workload friction |
| Expert | Cloud risk charts and exposure management | Prioritize a toxic combination of vulnerability, identity, secrets, and exposure | Companies with complex cloud environments |
| Prism Cloud | Extensive CNAPP and compliance capabilities | Combines posture management, workload protection, and compliance workflows | Larger organizations require a comprehensive platform |
| lace | Behavior analysis and cloud risk detection | Detect unusual activity and cloud security risks | The team focuses on anomaly detection and compliance |
| Aqua Security | Container security and Kubernetes | Secure images, containers, Kubernetes clusters, and cloud-native workloads | DevOps teams use containers a lot |
| system | Runtime and Kubernetes focused security | Monitor live workloads and detect threats | Teams that need runtime visibility and cloud security |
| Micro Cloud Trend One | Cloud workload and application protection | Protect cloud workloads within a broader enterprise security stack | Organizations are already investing in Trend Micro tools |
| Microsoft Defender for the Cloud | Azure-native and multi-cloud security | Secure Azure environments with integrated posture and threat protection | Azure heavy organization |
Orca Security and Agentless Cloud Security
Orca Security is often referred to as agentless cloud security because its approach to visibility is agentless. This is important for DevOps teams because it makes it easier to deploy and for security teams to scan cloud assets more quickly.
The main principle behind the Orca model is to achieve agentless visibility through cloud integration, workload analysis, metadata, and snapshot scanning. Rather than requiring engineering teams to change every workload, this solution integrates with the cloud and takes a cloud-centric view of risk.
Models like these can help find:
- A configuration error that makes services or data accessible
- Vulnerabilities in workloads and packages
- Risky access points and over-privileged identities
- Exposure of sensitive data
- Accessible resources with vulnerabilities
- A combination of risks that may be riskier than individual vulnerabilities
This type of agentless approach can help teams working across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud gain uniform visibility. This is especially useful in environments where the infrastructure is growing rapidly, there are many development teams, or there is limited bandwidth to manage agent deployment and maintenance.
Improve Security Without Breaking the Build
One of the biggest challenges in DevOps security is “breaking development”. Developers rarely challenge security. They resist security that slows down their processes, generates too many false positives, or gets in the way of them without adding value.
Agentless security can help address this because it is not part of the build process and still provides cloud risk information to the security team. Agentless solutions can continuously scan the cloud, rather than forcing developers to deploy and manage agents with each release.
This does not mean that agentless solutions eliminate DevSecOps practices such as code scanning, dependency scanning, infrastructure-as-code scanning, or container image scanning. They simply add value by providing visibility into what’s in the cloud and the relative risks.
The distinction is important. Vulnerabilities in development systems are not the same as vulnerabilities in production systems that are exposed to the internet and linked to sensitive data. This helps DevOps prioritize which vulnerabilities to fix.
Making Security Actionable for Engineers
Engineers must be able to use security findings. Ambiguous warnings are frustrating. Actionable findings that have an owner, context, severity, impacted assets, and remediation steps can be incorporated into the engineering process.
The best agentless cloud security solutions help you answer the questions:
- What assets are affected?
- Who owns it?
- Can it be accessed via the internet?
- Does it store or manipulate sensitive information?
- What permissions are attached to it?
- How to fix it?
This is where we need to prioritize risks. DevOps teams don’t need tickets anymore. They require fewer tickets and are more useful. Security tools that collect and categorize findings, prioritize root causes, and surface attack paths can help engineers identify and fix problems more quickly.
The way to do this is not to bombard the development team. Our goal is to help them solve the right problem at the right time.
Agentless Cloud Security: FAQ
What is agentless cloud security?
Agentless cloud security is a security approach that scans and inspects cloud workloads without running software agents on each workload. Typically operates through cloud APIs, snapshots, metadata, configuration, and workload context.
What are the benefits of agentless security for DevOps?
Agentless security is great for DevOps because it is easy to implement. This allows teams to get the information they need about cloud risks without having to deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot agents on every workload.
Which is better, agentless or agent-based security?
Agentless security is better for visibility, rapid deployment, and operational simplicity. Agent-based security may still be better for comprehensive runtime security, process-level telemetry, and dynamic workload control. Many companies use both.
Which providers have agentless cloud security?
Agentless and agentless cloud security platforms include Orca Security, Wiz, Prisma Cloud, Lacework, Aqua Security, Sysdig, Trend Micro Cloud One, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
When does DevOps need an agent?
DevOps teams can still use agents if they need in-depth runtime monitoring and control, process telemetry, file monitoring, or workload telemetry. Agentless solutions are great for alerting and triage, but agents may be necessary in some critical environments.
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