Are Docker containers secure enough?

With Docker containers being meticulously evaluated for production IT environments, there are questions being asked in different quarters about the security vulnerabilities of containers. Therefore, there is a clarion call to researchers and security experts for substantially strengthening container security in order to boost the confidence of service providers and consumers. In this section, we are going to describe where Docker containers stand as far as the security imbroglio is concerned. As containers are being closely examined in synchronization with virtual machines, we will start with a few security-related points of virtual machines (VMs) and containers.

The security facets – virtual machines versus Docker containers

Let's start with understanding how virtual machines differ from containers. Typically, virtual machines are heavyweight, and hence bloated, whereas containers are lightweight, and hence, slim and sleek.

The following table captures...