Plan a Lifecycle Strategy
Implementation Effort: Medium
Planning a lifecycle strategy requires coordination across security, DevOps, and platform teams to align container security practices with development and operational workflows.
User Impact: Low
This is a backend planning and implementation activity handled by security and DevOps teams; end users are not directly affected.
Overview
Planning a lifecycle strategy in Microsoft Defender for Containers ensures that container security is embedded throughout the entire container lifecycle—from development to deployment and runtime. This includes integrating security into CI/CD pipelines, monitoring container registries, enforcing runtime protections, and managing decommissioning of resources.
Key lifecycle phases include:
- Build phase: Integrate vulnerability scanning into CI/CD pipelines and container registries.
- Deploy phase: Ensure secure configurations and enable Defender sensors across Kubernetes clusters.
- Run phase: Monitor workloads for threats, misconfigurations, and compliance issues using Defender’s runtime protection and threat intelligence.
- Retire phase: Remove unused resources and revoke access to reduce attack surface.
This strategy supports the Zero Trust principle of "Assume Breach" by continuously validating the security posture of containers and automating responses to threats across all lifecycle stages.
Risks if not implemented: Without a defined lifecycle strategy, container environments may suffer from inconsistent security coverage, delayed threat detection, and increased exposure to supply chain attacks.