Why Warden Outpaces Wiz and Others in CNAPP Innovation
A deep dive into Warden’s capabilities and why it’s ahead of the CNAPP pack
Cloud infrastructure defense is on everyone’s minds, with lots of recent exploits, data breaches and ransomware attacks defending cloud resources and application security become top security risks. With this a new area is emerging and that is Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPPs) that are evolving their defensive postures to help cloud users protect their data. While Wiz and others dominate in visibility and posture management, Warden pushes boundaries by excelling in runtime protection and proactive threat containment—two areas where many CNAPPs still struggle.
We set out in this article to explore why Warden single platform and security functions set the gold standard for CNAPPs and how it outpaces competitors like Wiz, Prisma, and Sysdig.
Introduction to CNAPP
Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPPs) are comprehensive solutions designed to address the unique challenges of securing cloud-native environments. These platforms integrate multiple tools and capabilities, such as Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP), and runtime threat detection, into a unified interface.
The rise of containers, Kubernetes, and multi-cloud architectures has outpaced traditional security solutions, making CNAPPs essential. By combining proactive defenses, automated compliance, and advanced runtime protection, CNAPPs enable organizations to mitigate risks and protect sensitive data across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
What Does CNAPP Solve?
Real-World Runtime Threats
Runtime threats are among the most challenging security issues in cloud-native environments because they target actively running applications and workloads. Below are examples of real-world runtime threats that highlight the critical need for advanced runtime protection:
- Container Escape Attacks: An attacker compromises a container and breaks into the host system, gaining access to other containers and resources. For instance, vulnerabilities in container runtimes like Docker or CRI-O have been exploited to escape isolation.
- Compromised Kubernetes Nodes: Attackers exploit misconfigured Kubernetes clusters to elevate privileges and execute malicious workloads. The infamous TeamTNT group used this approach to deploy crypto-mining malware across cloud environments.
- API Exploits: Malicious actors abuse exposed APIs to escalate privileges or inject malicious commands, bypassing application logic and compromising the runtime environment.
These examples demonstrate why runtime protection is vital for CNAPPs like Warden, which proactively contain threats before they can escalate.
Why Runtime Protection Is the Real Battleground
Runtime protection isn’t just a “nice-to-have”; it’s the backbone of any effective cloud security strategy. While tools like Wiz Defend are still playing catch-up in this area, Warden has taken the lead by offering:
- Default Deny Technology: This proactive feature ensures that no unknown processes or unauthorized activities can run within workloads or containers, effectively neutralizing emerging threats before they escalate.
- Kernel API Virtualization: Warden’s ability to virtualize Kernel APIs allows it to intercept and isolate malicious activity at the system level, something that even the most advanced competitors can’t match.
Where Wiz and others offer basic runtime sensors and anomaly detection, Warden integrates real-time containment directly into its runtime protection, making it a game-changer for Security Operations Centers (SOCs).
SOC Use Case Scenarios
Warden empowers Security Operations Center (SOC) teams with actionable insights, real-time containment, and seamless multi-cloud visibility. Here’s a real-world example of how a SOC team could leverage Warden during an incident:
Scenario: Compromised Kubernetes Cluster
- Detection: Warden detects unusual privilege escalation attempts within a Kubernetes cluster, flagged as a mapped TTP under the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
- Investigation: SOC analysts use Warden’s visualized runtime logs to identify the root cause: a misconfigured role binding allowed unauthorized administrative access.
- Containment: Warden’s Default Deny policy automatically blocks the malicious container from executing further commands, neutralizing the threat.
- Response: The SOC team remediates the misconfiguration and deploys new policies using Warden’s platform to prevent recurrence.
- Post-Incident Review: Warden provides an automated incident report detailing the TTPs, indicators of compromise (IoCs), and remediation steps.
This proactive workflow showcases Warden’s value in minimizing response times and reducing alert fatigue.
Breaking Down Warden’s Edge Over Wiz and Others
1. Proactive Threat Containment 🤩
Unlike Wiz Defend, which focuses on detection, Warden actively neutralizes threats with built-in containment. The Default Deny approach ensures that even zero-day exploits are blocked in real time.
Competitive Note: While Wiz Defend relies on anomaly detection (which often results in alert fatigue), Warden’s containment model removes the need for manual intervention.
2. End-to-End Visibility with Actionable Insights 🤩
Warden’s ability to map runtime activities directly to the MITRE ATT&CK framework gives SOC teams unparalleled visibility. Key features include:
- Mapping of behavioral anomalies to known TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures).
- A user-friendly dashboard optimized for threat hunting and response—not just compliance metrics.
Competitive Note: Wiz’s dashboards focus on readiness and posture but fall short in operational depth. Warden’s dashboards are purpose-built for cloud-native SOCs.
3. Multi-Platform Runtime Protection 🤩
Warden supports Windows workloads alongside Kubernetes and containerized environments. This eliminates the need to split runtime alerts across multiple platforms, unlike Wiz and others.
Competitive Note: This positions Warden as a one-stop solution, rivaling even established EDR players like CrowdStrike.
4. Granular Control for SOC Teams 🫤
Warden integrates robust search and filter capabilities for runtime logs. While still evolving, its advanced querying engine offers deep-dive insights across event timelines, enabling:
- Faster threat investigations.
- Pivoting between cloud and workload events with ease.
Competitive Note: Warden’s search capabilities are already more intuitive than Wiz’s Runtime Event search, which feels underdeveloped.
5. Advanced Detection Across Multi-Cloud Environments 🤩
Key detections include:
- Identifying suspicious inter-cloud communications (e.g., Azure and AWS).
- Tying together user activity from third-party identity platforms like Okta.
- Proactively identifying lateral movement attempts within Kubernetes clusters.
Competitive Note: While Wiz excels in surfacing CSPM findings, its runtime detections often lag behind Warden’s proactive containment.
The Competitive Landscape
- Wiz: Great for agentless visibility and posture management but lacks maturity in runtime protection. Their Defend product is promising but incomplete.
- Prisma (Twistlock): Strong in containers but falls short in multi-cloud and Windows environments.
- Sysdig: Excellent runtime detection but struggles with integration into broader SOC workflows.
- Orca: Innovative but primarily agentless, making it less effective in runtime containment.
Warden, by contrast, combines deep runtime protection with proactive containment, offering a seamless experience across containers, Windows, and hybrid cloud environments.
Competitive Feature Comparison Table
| Feature | Warden | Wiz Defend | Prisma Cloud | Sysdig | Orca Security |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runtime Threat Containment | Proactive (Default Deny) | Reactive (Anomaly Alerts) | Limited Runtime Controls | Basic Runtime Detection | Limited Runtime Features |
| Kernel-Level Protection | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Multi-Cloud Support | Comprehensive | Focus on Cloud Platforms | Comprehensive | Limited | Broad |
| Ease of Integration | High | High | Moderate | High | Moderate |
| MITRE ATT&CK Mapping | Full Alignment | Partial | Limited | Partial | Partial |
This table highlights Warden’s clear strengths, particularly in proactive runtime containment and kernel-level protection.
Enhanced Competitive Landscape
To stand out in the CNAPP space, Warden emphasizes proactive protection, something most competitors overlook. While tools like Wiz Defend and Orca Security excel in posture management and detection, they rely heavily on alerting, leaving SOC teams overwhelmed. In contrast, Warden focuses on:
- Proactive Containment: Neutralizing threats immediately through Default Deny technology.
- Kernel API Virtualization: Blocking malicious API calls at the kernel level, preventing advanced attack techniques like privilege escalation.
- Unified Platform: Combining runtime protection, compliance, and posture management into a single pane of glass.
These competitive advantages position Warden as a leader in CNAPP defense.
Roadmap for Log Filtering and Querying
While Warden’s runtime log capabilities are already robust, future enhancements will make them even more SOC-friendly. Planned upgrades include:
- Advanced Querying Capabilities: Allowing SOC teams to filter logs by specific TTPs, timestamps, and IoCs with greater precision.
- Natural Language Querying: Simplifying search functions for non-technical team members.
- Integration with SIEM Tools: Seamlessly connecting Warden logs to popular Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms like Splunk and Sentinel.
These improvements are expected to further streamline incident investigations and solidify Warden’s leadership in runtime protection.
Why Warden Is the Future of CNAPP
In a landscape dominated by tools that focus on visibility and compliance, Warden stands out by tackling what matters most: stopping attacks before they spread.
By emphasizing proactive containment, runtime visibility, and SOC-friendly features, Warden has positioned itself as a must-have tool for modern cloud security.
The next five years of CNAPP will revolve around runtime protection, and Warden is already ahead of the curve.
Final Verdict: Future of CNAPP
While competitors like Wiz Defend are still catching up, Warden is delivering actionable, real-time protection today. For security teams tired of endless alerts and reactive workflows, Warden offers a clear path forward: protection that works before vulnerabilities turn into breaches for CNAPP.
Top-11 Questions about Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) Defense
1. What are CNAPP benefits, and why is it important for cloud security?
CNAPP (Cloud Native Application Protection Platform) is an integrated solution designed to secure cloud-native environments by combining tools for posture management, runtime protection, compliance, and threat detection. It is critical for modern cloud security because traditional tools often fall short in protecting dynamic, containerized, and hybrid cloud environments where threats evolve rapidly.
2. What makes runtime protection critical in CNAPP defense?
Runtime protection safeguards applications and workloads while they are running, targeting threats like zero-day vulnerabilities, privilege escalation, and lateral movement. The article emphasizes that runtime protection is the “real battleground” for CNAPPs, with Warden excelling in proactive containment, which stops threats before they escalate.
3. How does Warden’s Default Deny technology work?
Default Deny ensures that only pre-approved processes can execute, blocking unknown or malicious activities in real-time. This proactive approach neutralizes threats like zero-day attacks without requiring manual intervention.
4. What is Kernel API Virtualization, and why is it significant?
Kernel API Virtualization isolates malicious activity at the system level by virtualizing kernel calls. This prevents attackers from exploiting low-level system APIs to escalate privileges or gain control over workloads.
5. How does Warden platform compare to Wiz in runtime protection?
The article highlights that Wiz Defend focuses on anomaly detection, which often leads to alert fatigue and reactive workflows, whereas Warden takes a proactive stance with real-time threat containment. This positions Warden ahead in handling runtime threats effectively.
6. What detection and containment capabilities does Warden provide for SOC teams?
Warden offers deep runtime insights mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, real-time containment, and multi-cloud visibility. Its dashboards are optimized for actionable threat response, providing a seamless experience for SOC teams.
7. How does Warden handle cloud-native security for multi-cloud environments?
Warden supports Windows workloads alongside Kubernetes and containerized environments, making it a versatile choice for hybrid cloud deployments. It detects inter-cloud communications, lateral movements, and suspicious activity across platforms like AWS and Azure.
8. What are the key competitive advantages of Warden over other CNAPP solutions?
Warden’s primary advantages include proactive threat containment, Default Deny technology, kernel-level protection, and a unified platform for runtime and posture management. These features outperform competitors like Wiz, Prisma, and Sysdig, which often rely on basic runtime sensors and anomaly detection.
9. How does Warden integrate with the MITRE ATT&CK framework?
Warden maps runtime activities to known TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures), giving SOC teams unparalleled visibility into threats. This alignment simplifies threat hunting and speeds up response times.
10. What cloud security challenges does Warden currently face?
The article mentions that Warden’s search and filtering capabilities for runtime logs are still evolving. While intuitive, they require further refinement to compete with top-tier querying engines.
11. Why is Warden considered the future of CNAPP tool defense?
The article concludes that Warden’s focus on proactive containment, runtime protection, and multi-cloud support positions it as a leader in CNAPP. It addresses the critical pain points of SOC teams by reducing alert fatigue, stopping attacks in real time, and simplifying threat investigation workflows.
