As businesses migrate workloads to AWS, Azure, and GCP, cloud security has become a top priority. Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms combine cloud security posture management, workload protection, vulnerability scanning, and runtime threat detection into unified platforms that secure the entire cloud lifecycle.
Wiz has rapidly become the fastest-growing cloud security company, valued at over $10 billion. Its agentless scanning technology builds a complete graph of your cloud environment in minutes, mapping relationships between VMs, containers, serverless functions, identities, and data stores. Wiz identifies toxic risk combinations — like an internet-facing workload with a critical vulnerability connected to a database with sensitive data — that individual scanning tools miss. The platform supports AWS, Azure, GCP, and multi-cloud environments.
Palo Alto Prisma Cloud is the most comprehensive CNAPP, offering cloud security posture management, workload protection, network microsegmentation, web application firewalls, and code security scanning. Prisma Cloud covers the full application lifecycle from code to cloud, integrating into CI/CD pipelines for shift-left security. The breadth of coverage makes Prisma Cloud ideal for large enterprises with complex, multi-cloud environments.
Lacework provides cloud security with automated anomaly detection powered by the Polygraph Data Platform. Rather than relying on predefined rules, Lacework learns what normal behavior looks like in your cloud environment and alerts on deviations. This behavioral approach catches novel threats and reduces false positives. Lacework supports multi-cloud environments and integrates with CI/CD tools for vulnerability scanning during development.
Orca Security pioneered the agentless, SideScanning approach to cloud security. Its platform scans cloud workloads, configurations, identities, and data stores without deploying agents, providing full-stack visibility within minutes. Orca combines CSPM, vulnerability management, compliance monitoring, and data security in a single platform. The agentless approach eliminates deployment friction and performance overhead.
CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security extends the company's industry-leading threat detection to cloud workloads. It provides runtime protection for containers, Kubernetes clusters, and serverless functions alongside cloud security posture management. For organizations already using CrowdStrike for endpoint protection, extending to cloud security through the same platform and management console is the most operationally efficient choice.
Cloud security should be implemented at every layer: infrastructure configuration, workload hardening, identity management, network segmentation, and application security. Start with CSPM to identify and remediate misconfigurations, then add workload protection and runtime monitoring as your cloud footprint grows.
