Cloud security is growing more complex as organizations juggle containers, APIs, and multi-cloud environments. Each layer introduces new visibility gaps, and attackers are quick to exploit them.
Traditional solutions like cloud security posture management (CSPM) and cloud workload protection platforms (CWPPs) still play a role in protecting your environments. However, these systems often work in isolation, and force your team to react instead of helping them prevent issues.
Cloud-native application protection platforms (CNAPPs) unify safeguards across the entire cloud lifecycle, giving you one view of your risks from build to runtime. In this article, we’ll explain why CNAPP has become essential, and introduce you to eight top CNAPP tools for cloud security management.
What Is CNAPP?
The simplest definition of a CNAPP is that it combines several cloud security capabilities into one integrated platform. The result is a solution that unifies posture management, workload protection, and identity control, so your team doesn’t have to juggle separate tools for each of these important tasks. CNAPP tools give you full context so you can see and understand what’s happening across your environments.
To achieve that global view, CNAPP merges CSPM, CWPP, and cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM). Many CNAPP platforms also include data security posture management (DSPM) and CI/CD security integrations that detect vulnerabilities and misconfigurations before deployment. Plus, CNAPP tools offer security and cloud operations teams continuous oversight of your entire cloud stack.
Why Does Your Team Need CNAPP Tools?
Cloud environments often change by the hour, as your team spins up new services, swaps images, and tweaks identity and access management policies across multiple providers. That pace creates two compounding problems: misconfigurations remain the leading cause of cloud incidents, and tools sprawl hides real risk in a sea of disconnected alerts.
CNAPP addresses these issues by converging posture, workload, identity, data, and pipeline security into one platform, so you can see risks in context and act faster. Any organization operating in the cloud can gain value from CNAPP, but it's especially useful for enterprises running multi-cloud or hybrid environments.
A quality CNAPP correlates what’s running, how environments are configured, where sensitive data are located, and who can access those environments and data. That context elevates the issues that can become incidents—such as internet-exposed workloads or overly permissive roles—while suppressing the noise. The results are cleaner queues for security teams and continuous compliance evidence for audits.
How CNAPP Vendors Assist With CSPM
One of CNAPP’s most significant advantages is its ability to elevate posture management. Here's how it assists with CSPM:
- Ongoing monitoring: CNAPP continuously evaluates cloud accounts and services for risky settings and policy violations, pulling telemetry via APIs (agentless) and, where needed, runtime sensors.
- Better visibility: Instead of forcing you to correlate scattered findings manually, CNAPP builds a single view across providers—of assets, configurations, identities, data stores, and pipelines—so you can trace real attack paths and assign fixes to the right owners.
- Improved threat detection: Beyond posture, many platforms add anomaly and runtime detection for active abuse and policy bypass, tracking those events back to the misconfigurations or excessive entitlements that enabled them.
8 Top CNAPP Tools for a Complete View of Your Environment
The CNAPP market has grown fast as organizations search for a single solution to secure their cloud environments from end to end. Here’s a look at eight top CNAPP vendors, so you can find one that offers the right mix of visibility and automation
1. Prisma Cloud
Prisma Cloud provides unifying code-to-cloud visibility and threat detections across Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This tool is ideal for large enterprises that need in-depth coverage and integration with other Palo Alto security tools.
2. Wiz
Wiz offers agentless scanning and a security graph correlating cloud vulnerabilities and misconfigurations to create contextual risk paths. That makes Wiz useful for organizations seeking quick deployment and simplified risk prioritization across large-scale cloud environments.
3. Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Defender for Cloud extends Microsoft’s cloud-native security features beyond Azure to AWS and GCP. This platform provides continuous assessment and compliance monitoring, and is particularly effective for enterprises with significant Microsoft infrastructure that requires consolidated management.
4. Orca Security
Orca Security uses agentless “side-scanning” to evaluate workloads and configurations without installation overhead. Because it provides context-rich insights and integrates with cloud posture and workload monitoring tools, Orca is often implemented by teams that prioritize rapid onboarding and cross-environment visibility.
5. FortiCNAPP (formerly Lacework)
FortiCNAPP, built on Lacework’s behavioral analytics technology, combines anomaly detection with posture management and compliance capabilities. This solution is commonly adopted by enterprises that manage high alert volumes or operate multi-cloud environments, and that need data-driven context to support large-scale security operations.
6. Sysdig
Sysdig focuses on container and Kubernetes runtime protection, with real-time detection and compliance features powered by Falco. Sysdig’s feature set is designed mainly for platform and operations teams maintaining containerized or microservices-based architectures.
7. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security
Falcon Cloud Security integrates cloud workload protection with CrowdStrike’s endpoint and identity detection capabilities. Organizations with active security operations centers often use Falcon Cloud Security to extend endpoint telemetry and response workflows into the cloud.
8. Aqua Security
Aqua Security protects containers, Kubernetes, and serverless functions across build and runtime. This tool is typically used by DevSecOps teams that want to strengthen pipeline security and enforce runtime policies in container-first environments.
How to Choose the Right CNAPP Vendor for Your Needs
The best CNAPP vendor for your needs depends on your cloud architecture and team maturity. When comparing options, focus on factors that shape long-term value, such as:
- Cloud compatibility and coverage: Confirm that the platform fully supports your stack—AWS, Azure, GCP, or hybrid. Many tools advertise multi-cloud coverage, but offer more in-depth visibility in one environment than another. Broader compatibility means fewer blind spots and consistent enforcement as you expand.
- Integrations and automations: A strong CNAPP should plug smoothly into your existing workflows, CI/CD pipelines, version control, security information and event management, and ticketing systems. Seamless integrations and automations reduce the need for manual triage and help teams act on findings in real time.
- Identity and compliance tools: Platforms that include CIEM and DSPM simplify least-privileged enforcement and data governance. This is relevant for regulated sectors that must align with System and Organization Controls 2, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or General Data Protection Regulation requirements.
- Robust scalability and usability: Choose a CNAPP that can scale as your environment grows, letting you add new accounts and workloads without performance drops. Look for transparent pricing and an intuitive interface that won't demand constant tuning. Mid-sized teams in particular will benefit most from platforms that offer modular pricing and simplified deployment.
Enhance Cloud Security Management With Legit
CNAPP tools secure what’s running in the cloud, but they can’t always see where that code comes from. By pairing CNAPP capabilities with Legit Security’s application security posture management platform, you gain continuous visibility from code to cloud, helping you address vulnerabilities and misconfigurations before deployment.
Legit unifies insights across your development pipelines and runtime environments, so you can connect cloud-level risk to specific code changes or teams. This integration closes the gap CNAPPs leave open, protecting the software supply chain that feeds your cloud workloads while maintaining speedy compliance across development and security operations.
Request a demo today to see how Legit Security provides context and protection across the entire software delivery lifecycle.
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