What is CNAPP?
Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform
An integrated security platform that combines CSPM, cloud workload protection (CWPP), and application security capabilities to protect cloud-native applications across their full lifecycle from build to runtime.
CNAPP unifies several previously separate cloud security categories into one platform. It covers infrastructure security (CSPM for misconfiguration detection), workload security (CWPP for runtime protection of VMs, containers, and serverless functions), application security (infrastructure-as-code scanning, container image scanning, software composition analysis), and entitlement management (CIEM for identifying overprivileged cloud IAM roles).
The premise is that cloud-native security requires a platform that understands the full context: the same container image might be safe in a dev environment but risky in production if the associated IAM role has admin privileges and the security group allows public access. CNAPP connects these signals into a unified risk view rather than generating isolated findings from separate tools.
CNAPP and SASE are complementary but distinct. SASE secures the network and access layer. CNAPP secures the cloud infrastructure and application layer. The convergence point is policy: organizations increasingly want a single vendor or integrated platform that covers both how users access cloud applications (SASE/SSE) and how those applications are secured in the cloud (CNAPP). Several major security vendors now offer both, though true integration between the two platforms varies significantly in maturity.
A tool that continuously monitors cloud infrastructure (IaaS, PaaS) for misconfigurations, compliance violations, and security risks by comparing resource configurations against security benchmarks and best practices.
A software architecture built from the ground up for cloud environments using microservices, containerization, and elastic scaling, as opposed to legacy appliances virtualized and hosted in the cloud.
The practice of protecting application programming interfaces from abuse, unauthorized access, and data exposure, covering authentication, rate limiting, schema validation, and runtime threat detection.
A security model that eliminates implicit trust based on network location, requiring continuous verification of identity, device posture, and context for every access request.
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