Red Hat Snags StackRox to Strengthen OpenShift Platform

Red Hat, the leading Kubernetes platform for hybrid and multi-cloud announced it is acquiring Stack Rox, the industry’s first Kubernetes-native security platform to achieve container security at scale. 

In 2020, DevOps teams have been in a constant battle between delivery speed and delivery quality. And the faster they move, the greater the chances they end up with a product that is riddled with security issues.  On top of that, the growing maturity and expansion of CI/CD tools have accelerated the need for container security solutions across the development pipeline. 

That’s where Mountain View headquartered StackRox, a Kubernetes security and container startup comes into play. With the pandemic forcing most of the operations online, the future of IT is cloud-native and security must adapt to meet the new challenges of this approach.  “With StackRox, #RedHat intends to add even more Kubernetes-native expertise to the industry’s leading enterprise #Kubernetes platform,” Paul Cormier, Red Hat CEO tweeted. 

The future of IT is cloud-native and security must adapt to meet the new challenges of this approach. With StackRox, #RedHatOpens a new window intends to add even more Kubernetes-native expertise to the industry’s leading enterprise #KubernetesOpens a new window platform.

— Paul Cormier (@PaulJCormier) January 7, 2021Opens a new window

According to GartnerOpens a new window , over the next two years, more than 75% of organizations will be running containerized apps in production environments, further underscoring the need to embed security within the DevOps workflows. The leading research firm also points out that container usage for production deployments in enterprises is still constrained by concerns regarding security, monitoring, data management and networking.

Over the past few years, Kubernetes which brought containers to the forefront has become foundational to cloud-native applications. Additionally, the widespread adoption of Kubernetes as an application delivery approach has spurred the need for solutions that can secure Kubernetes containers at scale. 

By bringing StackRox into the corporate fold, Red Hat Opens a new window is further cementing its position in the market as a leading enterprise LinuxOpens a new window and Kubernetes platform. Also, as Red Hat eyes a hybrid and multi-cloud future for OpenShift, it will need to level up container security across the CI/CD pipeline. 

Red Hat’s Ashesh Badani, Senior Vice President for cloud platforms observedOpens a new window that by bringing StackRox’s powerful Kubernetes-native security capabilities to OpenShift, users will be able to build, deploy and more securely run applications across every IT footprint. 

See More: Will Red Hat Rule the Supercomputing Industry with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?  

Founded in 2014, StackRox offers a Kubernetes-native security platform for DevSecOps teams which packs  features such as configuration management, network policy enforcement, threat detection at the point of deployment of containers. In the runtime environment, StackRox deploys components for deep data collection and enforcement. Through this, DevOps teams can significantly reduce the time required to implement security analysis during the development pipeline.  

Post the acquisition, StackRox will continue to support multiple Kubernetes platforms such as Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).

Talking about the shift-left security approach, StackRox’s CEO Kamal Shah said, “This is a tremendous validation of our innovative approach to container and Kubernetes security. Red Hat is an ideal partner to accelerate our vision of enabling organizations to securely build, deploy and run their cloud-native applications anywhere.”

“We’re thrilled to join forces with Red Hat, coupling the industry’s first Kubernetes-native security platform with the leading Kubernetes platform for hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and edge deployments,” he said, in closing. 

Though the purchase price is not disclosed, the acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021. This is also Red Hat’s first major acquisition since it was acquired by IBM in 2019. 

What are your thoughts on Red Hat’s recent acquisition? Comment below or let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!