Using Containers for Secure Web Services

Containers are a means to install and run applications in an isolated environment on a server (physical or virtual). The application running inside a container is limited to resources (CPU, memory, disk, process space, users, networking, volumes) allocated for that container. Access is limited to that container’s resources to avoid conflict with other containers. Think of a container as an isolated sandbox for an application to run in.

The concept is similar to virtual machines, but containers use a light-weight technique to achieve resource isolation, whereby they use the Linux kernel (as opposed to a hypervisor-based approach taken by virtual machines). Containers issue Linux commands to make use of a subset of system resources.

Docker is a popular tool to create and start a container. Docker Community Edition (CE) is ideal for developers and small teams looking to get started with Docker and experimenting with container-based apps. It enables packaging of an app with all its dependencies and libraries.
Here’s more information on using AWS to build secure services with containers.

Tim Berners-Lee Warns of a Breakdown of the World Wide Web

Global action is required to tackle the web's "downward plunge to a dysfunctional future", its inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has told the BBC. He made the comments in an exclusive interview to mark 30 years since he submitted his proposal for the web.

Read more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47524474

Popular Cloud Container for Services Found to Have Security Flaw

Kubernetes is a very popular cloud container orchestration system, and a major security hole has been discovered. The problem, CVE-2018-1002105, is a privilege escalation flaw (CVSS 9.8 critical security hole). This makes it possible to gain full administrator privileges on any compute node being run in a Kubernetes pod.

Read more here...

Serverless Architectures

Serverless architecture can mean moving the business logic layer of a three-tier solution off to a fully distributed environment. The logic tier of the three-tier architecture that resides in this cloud-based, highly available, scalable, and secure realm means it uses thousands of servers; however, by leveraging the serverless architecture pattern, management is simplified:
- No operating systems to choose, secure, patch, or manage.
- No servers to size, monitor, or scale.
- No risk to your cost by over-provisioning.
- No risk to your performance by under-provisioning.

There is no “one” way of doing serverless, Paul Johnson writes,

Serverless becomes about exposing individual functionality rather than a whole server.
Serverless is about saying exactly what needs doing when responding to an event, and increasingly ignoring what underlying technology is required.
But it’s also about removing the need to manage uptime, server maintenance, upgrades, security vulnerabilities etc. The only bit you need to be aware of is your code. That’s it.

Read more at Paul's blog...