Docker Security Insights: Malware Threats and Developer Responsibilities

Three years after the first malware attacks targeting Docker, developers are still misconfiguring and exposing their Docker servers online. Docker malware is now common, making this lackadaisical attitude toward Docker security increasingly problematic.

Towards the end of 2017, there was a major shift in the malware scene. As cloud-based technologies became more popular, cybercrime gangs also began targeting Docker and Kubernetes systems.

Most of these attacks followed a very simple pattern where threat actors scanned for misconfigured systems that had admin interfaces exposed online in order to take over servers and deploy cryptocurrency-mining malware.

Over the past three years, these attacks have intensified, and new malware strains and threat actors targeting Docker (and Kubernetes) are now being discovered on a regular basis.